People
Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion
Harvey Whitehouse is an anthropologist whose research focuses on the evolution of social complexity. One of the founders of the cognitive science of religion, Harvey is well known for his theory of “modes of religiosity,” which explains how the frequency and emotional intensity of collective rituals influence the scale and structure of religious organisations. He is Chair of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of Magdalen College.
For more information about Harvey’s work, please visit harveywhitehouse.com.
Deputy Director
Pieter François is an Associate Professor in Cultural Evolution, and Fellow in Anthropology and Tutor for Graduates at St. Benet’s Hall, University of Oxford. His work focuses on travel and migration in the nineteenth century and on the evolution of social complexity, ritual and warfare. Together with Professor Peter Turchin (UConn) and Professor Harvey Whitehouse (Oxford) he founded the Seshat: Global History Databank in 2011. In 2013 he won the British Library Labs competition with his Sample Generator for Digitized Texts.
For more information about Pieter's work, please visit PieterFrancois.
