Holly Dunsworth

Biography

Holly Dunsworth is a biological anthropologist at the University of Rhode Island where she teaches with new and original approaches aimed at overturning outdated evolutionary dogma. Although she began her career as a paleoanthropologist, she has a broad background that carries her interests beyond the fossil record, from the evolution of pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care, to sex differences in skeletal growth. Her research and teaching are primarily concerned with scientific narratives of human evolutionary history, how those narratives are formed, interpreted, and employed, and how they impact culture and society. Professor Dunsworth helps to refute myths about human evolution that divide us. We’re all in this together.

Professor Dunsworth teaches the following courses: Human Origins and Evolution (APG 201), Sapiens: The Changing Nature of Human Evolution (APG/BIO 282G), Sex and Reproduction in Our Species (APG 399), Topics in Anthropology (310), and Senior Seminar: Unity of Anthropology (APG 427).

Education

  • Ph.D. in Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, 2006
  • M.A. (with distinction) in Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, 2001
  • B.A. (with high honors) in Anthropology, University of Florida, 1999

Selected Publications

  • Dunsworth H & L Ware. 2025. How can gender/sex entanglement inform our understanding of human evolutionary biology? In: Sex and Gender: Transforming Scientific Practice, edited by L. Z. DuBois, A. K. Trujillo, and M. M. McCarthy. Strüngmann Forum Reports, vol. 36, J. R. Lupp, series editor. Springer-Nature.
  • Saldanha et al. 2025. Group 1 report: Entanglement of Gender/Sex Dynamics in Basic and Developmental Systems Biology. In: Sex and Gender: Transforming Scientific Practice, edited by L. Z. DuBois, A. K. Trujillo, and M. M. McCarthy. Strüngmann Forum Reports, vol. 36, J. R. Lupp, series editor. Springer-Nature.
  • Dunsworth H. 2021. Chapter 27: There is no evolutionary “obstetrical dilemma”. In, C Tomori and S Han, editors Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction. Routledge.
  • Dunsworth H. 2021.  Chapter 9: This View of Wife. In J. DeSilva (editor) A Most Interesting Problem: What Darwin’s Descent Got Right and Wrong About Human Evolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Dunsworth H. 2020. Expanding the evolutionary explanations for sex differences in the human skeleton. Evolutionary Anthropology 29(3): 108-116.
  • Norton HL, et al. 2019. Human races are not like dog breeds: Refuting a racist analogy. Evolution: Education and Outreach 12, Article number 17 
  • Dunsworth H. 2018. There is no ‘obstetrical dilemma’: Towards a braver medicine with fewer childbirth interventions. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 61(2): 249-263.
  • Patel B, et al. 2018. Ontogeny of hallucal metatarsal rigidity and shape in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) and common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Anatomy 232(1): 39–53.
  • Dunsworth H. 2017. How Donald Trump Got Human Evolution Wrong. Washington Post
  • Dunsworth H and A Buchanan. 2017. Sex makes babies. Aeon Magazine August 9, 2017
  • Dunsworth H. 2016. Do animals know where babies come from? Scientific American 314(1): 66-69.
  • Dunsworth H and L Eccleston. 2015. The evolution of difficult childbirth and helpless hominin infants. Annual Review of Anthropology 44: 55-69. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-102214-013918