Dr. Sarah A Lacy
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professorlacy.bsky.social
Dr. Sarah A Lacy
@professorlacy.bsky.social
620 followers 100 following 12 posts
Paleoanthropologist, Biological Anthropologist, and Paleolithic Archaeologist at the University of Delaware Department of Anthropology. I <3 Neanderthals.
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professorlacy.bsky.social
Hope to have a "robust response" soon...
rebeccasear.bsky.social Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Jun 12
The American Anthropological Association has put out a very clear statement in response to a new report claiming the humanities and social sciences are ruining themselves with left-wing bias. Would be good to see more such robust responses to these familiar yet deeply unhelpful accusations
June 12, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sarah A Lacy
mattseybold.bsky.social
The AAUP chapters at Vanderbilt & Wash U have issued a joint statement denouncing the “State of Scholarship” report commissioned by their chancellors.

Please, let’s make this as widely read as the gaslighting to which it responds.
Joint Statement on the "State of Scholarship" Report The Vanderbilt University and Washington University chapters of the American Association of University Professors express our profound disagreement with the "State of Scholarship" report commissioned by our universities' chancellors. The report distorts the state of humanistic and social scientific scholarship at our universities and in the academy overall. Worse, it proposes a shocking intrusion of university administration into faculty governance and portends greater threats to academic freedom that should concern all faculty. The report currently appears on Vanderbilt's website under the insignia of both Vanderbilt and Washington Universities. It is already receiving public condemnation. As the American Council of Learned Societies makes clear, the report is founded on false premises and anecdotal evidence and thus does nothing to "ensure deeper and more meaningful relations among scholars and members of the public." No doubt more rebuttals from scholars, departments, and professional societies will follow. It suffices for us to say that the report falls far short of the standards of political neutrality and disinterested inquiry it claims to champion. Historians, literary scholars, and anthropologists are singled out for caricature while the authors fail to acknowledge their own public biases against scholarship performed in the name of social justice. Nor does the report divulge its source of funding or conflicts of interest that may entail - standard practice for any work of humanistic or social scientific scholarship. In sum, the report is itself a clear example of "politicized" research that its authors attempt to decry. What is most alarming is the guidance the report offers to its intended audience of university chancellors and presidents. By falsely arguing that humanities and social science departments are in the throes of an epistemological crisis, the authors lay the groundwork for university adminis… Weakening faculty governance does nothing to solve the real challenges facing our universities, and undermines our ability to effectively address society's most profound problems and challenges, from the inequalities of wealth and white supremacy to the political consequences of climate change. Indeed, the direst threats to public trust in higher education are not philosophical debates about the nature of truth. Currently, the federal government is dramatically cutting funding for the humanities and social sciences as well as for the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, public health, and the arts. In response, university administrations have instituted austerity measures, even as administrative salaries and administrative positions have taken up an increasing share of decreasing budgets. The best way for scholars to cultivate diverse opinions and advance knowledge is by strengthening academic freedom. Political threats to higher education have degraded, and will continue to degrade, the quality of all fields of our universities' research, to the detriment of America's global standing. We note that the organizations now working most actively and successfully to defend academic free inquiry from politicized federal interference are not university leaders but the American Council of Learned Societies, the Modern Language Association, and the American Historical Association - professional societies of the very disciplines chastised by the report. We call on our chancellors to rescind the report and affirm their commitment to the intellectual autonomy of faculty, academic departments, and governing faculty bodies. Administrative interference into academic departments, as licensed by this report, is a violation of the standards of academic freedom that have made American universities the envy of the world. Rather than undermining these bedrock principles, administrators should vigorously and publicly defend them. Vanderbilt University AAUP vanderbiltaaup@gmail.com Wa…
June 12, 2026 at 12:21 PM
professorlacy.bsky.social
What about archaelogists? We keep releasing curses.
May 18, 2026 at 7:08 PM
professorlacy.bsky.social
Are you looking for a summer field school? My Neanderthal one is paused right now, but my Macedonian colleagues are at Amzabegovo, one of the earliest Neolithic sites in Europe (and Gimbutas worked here all the way back in the 60s). I can promise fantastic food! www.bhfieldschool.org/program/birt...
Birth of Europe - Excavations at the Neolithic site of Amzabegovo
Balkan Heritage excavation and field school at the Neolithic Settlement Amzabegovo , North Macedonia.
www.bhfieldschool.org
April 9, 2026 at 2:32 PM
professorlacy.bsky.social
The connection between masculinity and meat-eating in our culture is likely what fueled some of the very negative reactions on the internet to the idea that ::gasp:: women hunted too! (and I'm quoted!)
kennytorrella.bsky.social Kenny Torrella @kennytorrella.bsky.social · Mar 31
A few months ago, nutrition and fitness influencer Jacob Smith talked up the benefits of tofu and... some guys totally lost it.

How did meat become a measure of manhood for a lot of men, and what can be done to separate meat from masculinity?
April 2, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sarah A Lacy
bawmn.bsky.social
Get excited!! 👏👏 - The BAWMN has organized several events during the #AABAs2026! We hope to see you there! Below is information on the workshop, the World Cafe (registration required), and our popular Happy Hour:
February 25, 2026 at 5:56 PM
professorlacy.bsky.social
I love reading John's substack, but this one has me particularly chuffed since he is highlighting the part of this new paper that got me most excited (and was ignored in a lot of the coverage). He gives a great summary of identifying matrilineal kin networks/ -based migration in the human genome.
johnhawks.net John Hawks @johnhawks.net · Feb 28
I'm pretty excited about a new study of the African influence on Neanderthal X chromosomes. It's because a pattern of dispersal of early modern people based on matrilineal kin networks makes a lot of sense.

www.johnhawks.net/p/matrilinea...
Matrilineal networks may be the key to understanding Neanderthal mixture
A new study focusing on the X chromosome finds repeated maternal dispersal bias in Neanderthal and modern evolution.
www.johnhawks.net
March 2, 2026 at 7:59 PM
professorlacy.bsky.social
@bawmn.bsky.social is offering an intimate World Café luncheon March 19th at the AABAs on the timely theme of Collective Action ~ a chance to really connect and reflect in a relaxed setting over a delicious Italian meal. Register here: forms.gle/vXsTK8EWPf9A...
BA WMN World Cafe Registration
The Biological Anthropology Women’s Mentoring Network (BA WMN) is open to graduate-level women and gender-minoritized AABA attendees regardless of academic rank or current employment status. Our missi...
forms.gle
February 24, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sarah A Lacy
liverpoolevoanth.bsky.social
There's still time to register for this week's talk, given by @professorlacy.bsky.social !

Sign up here: liverpool-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

We hope to see you there!
October 8, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sarah A Lacy
liverpoolevoanth.bsky.social
Please join us next week, 9th October 2025, at 13:00 BST, for our next seminar of the semester. We will be joined by @professorlacy.bsky.social, University of Delaware - more details 👇

If you'd like to join, please register here: liverpool-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

We hope to see you there!
October 3, 2025 at 10:16 AM
professorlacy.bsky.social
I love the BA WMN member profiles <3 bawmn.org/social-media/
Member Profiles
Kaye Reed What positions do you currently hold? I am currently President’s Professor Emerita at Arizona State University, a ResearchScientist at the Institute of Human Origins (IHO), and a Board Me…
bawmn.org
April 22, 2025 at 2:04 PM
professorlacy.bsky.social
So basically all anthropology research?
darbysaxbe.bsky.social Darby Saxbe @darbysaxbe.bsky.social · Feb 4
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
list of banned keywords
February 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sarah A Lacy
deviled-meg.bsky.social
1/19 In November 2023, @caraocobock.bsky.social and @professorlacy.bsky.social wrote in Scientific American: “The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather is Wrong.” (Link below). Much gnashing of teeth ensued. The authors have aptly defended the work. Yet the gnashers are back.
November 25, 2024 at 6:16 PM
professorlacy.bsky.social
Having the cover article in Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social is one of the great highlights of my career <3
October 19, 2023 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sarah A Lacy
caraocobock.bsky.social
Our (the amazing @professorlacy.bsky.social) articles got a nice write up in South Africa. Thank you to Rebecca Rogers Ackermann for putting us in touch with Elsabe Brits!

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023...
October 10, 2023 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sarah A Lacy
mu-peter.bsky.social
Argues that not only women well-suited to endurance activities like hunting, but there's little evidence to support they were not hunting in the Paleolithic.

Woman the hunter: The archaeological evidence 🧪
Sarah Lacy, Cara Ocobock
anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Portraits of Paleolithic women by @TomBjorklundArt
September 12, 2023 at 5:30 PM