HRAF Research Anthropologist, Ian Skoggard, reflects on his experience attending the 2024 Love Studies Conference in Gran Canaria last month. What’s not to love about a love studies conference? This January, the International Institute of…
From pop culture to evolutionary psychology, we have come to take kissing for granted as universally desirable among humans and inseparable from other aspects of affection and intimacy. However, a recent article in American Anthropologist…
Is romantic kissing a cultural universal? According to cross-cultural researchers, the answer, definitively, is no. While western societies often take for granted the notion that romantic partners express their desire for one another through kissing,…
Is kissing a universal human trait? William Jankowiak, Shelly Volsche and Justin Garcia address this question in their recently published article in American Anthropologist. The authors used Human Relations Area Files’ online ethnographic database, eHRAF World Cultures,…