Anthropologists Chris Knight and Jerome Lewis talk about their forthcoming book The Revolutionary Origins of LanguageAbout this Event
Chris Knight and Jerome Lewis explain why language and society are fundamental to the emergence of humans as a species, or the 'human revolution' as they call it. Drawing on primatology, linguistics, evolutionary theory, biological and social anthropology, in particular of existing central African hunter-gatherer societies, their forthcoming book ‘The Revolutionary Origins of Language’ (Yale UP, for 2026) shows how fundamental to language emergence was early human societies' unique cooperative childcare, ritualized practices and egalitarian politics.
They argue language emerged not just for practical communication but through dramatic, shared cultural performances (like "sex strikes" or political theatre), fostering deep trust and symbolic understanding, a shift from primate dominance to shared humanity.
Chris Knight is the founder of the Radical Anthropology Group and author of Blood Relations: Menstruation and the origins of culture (1991). Jerome Lewis lectures in Social Anthropology at University College London.
Chris and Jerome will speak
LIVE in Daryll Forde Room, 230, 2nd Floor, UCL Anthropology Dept, 14 Taviton St, London WC1H 0BW
ZOOM ID 952 8554 1412 passcode Wawilak
Invite link https://ucl.zoom.us/j/95285541412?pwd=LjI5yIagplvPmFXVwSnLbDbV1xUiep.1
Event Venue
UCL Anthropology, 14 Taviton Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
