Mind, Evolution, and the Anthropological Endeavor

Call for papers Issue 47/2026

Guest editors:

Paweł Chyc (University of Białystok)

Michał Żerkowski (University of Łódź)

This thematic issue seeks to provide an overview of the current landscape of evolutionarily, cognitively, and psychologically focused theoretical viewpoints in cultural anthropology and to present examples of creative applications of these approaches in research. We are equally keen to include critical voices in the ongoing discussion on the place of the notions of evolution and cognition in our discipline.

Cognitive anthropology, which has genealogical ties to psychological anthropology and directly evolved from the ethnoscience movement of the 1950s, currently stands as a crucial component of interdisciplinary cognitive science while also being a significant subdiscipline of cultural anthropology. Officially launched in the late 1960s, it is experiencing a continuous expansion in terms of the growth of publications and the diversity of topics studied. Our aim is to consider the links between cultural anthropology and the findings of contemporary cognitive anthropology, especially those theories of culture, meaning, religion, ritual, magic, community, reasoning, and ultimately the mind itself, which are oriented towards understanding cognition.

As evolutionary theory has significantly shaped cognitive anthropology in recent decades, we are interested in discussing the twofold application of theoretical models of evolutionary biology to the discipline. Firstly, we would like to explore the application of the conceptual framework of evolutionary psychology, more specifically the ‘evolutionary cognitive anthropology’ as referred to by Pascal Boyer. Within this framework, cognitive science of religion (CSR) stands out not only as an idiomatic theoretical position, but also defines the nature of many ethnography based studies. Secondly, we are interested in the evolutionary approach to the study of cultural transmission. While 20th-century scholars in our field opted to use the term “cultural change” as a response to the unilinear evolutionism of the 19th century, they still adhered to the principles put forth by Franz Boas—a critic of progressive evolutionism—who at the same time stated that the tasks of psychological anthropology include “the discovery of a system of the evolution of culture” and “the question of transmission and spontaneous origin.”

Still, the contemporary theory of cultural evolution is a relatively young orientation and still—with notable exceptions—relatively little represented in cultural anthropology. This area of research is unique in that it examines—often drawing upon the findings of ethnographic studies—the dynamics of cultural transformation through the lens of clearly established principles of evolutionary theory. We aim to explore how cultural anthropology engages with insights from the field of cultural evolution on such critical topics as e.g. cultural transmission, socialization, communication, tradition, and morality.

This special issue provides a platform for reflection on the place of evolutionarily, cognitively, and psychologically informed anthropological research within the wider framework of contemporary cultural anthropology. We invite submissions that tackle the challenges posed by these approaches and engage in a critical discussion regarding their foundational assumptions.

We particularly invite contributions addressing one or more of the following questions:

• The cognitive science of religion (CSR) has creatively applied theories from cognitive and evolutionary science to the study of religion. Can cultural anthropology benefit from these experiences in the study of culture?
• Are the concepts of culture and cultural transmission still relevant and useful within the framework of contemporary cultural anthropology?
• What challenges and opportunities face contemporary cultural model theory and cultural consensus theory?
• To what extent does cultural anthropology require theories of mind to effectively study human beliefs and practices across different cultures?
• How do contemporary anthropological reflections on competing theories of mind (e.g., cognitivism, computationalism, embodied cognition, the extended mind thesis, situated cognition, enactivism) inform our understanding of cultural phenomena?
• How to study the relationship between cognition and culture using ethnographic context? Can cultural anthropology benefit from applying mixed methodology to the fieldwork practice? Should ethnography be combined with quantitative and experimental methods, and if so, how?
• Can cultural anthropology embrace the theory of evolution as an explanatory framework for understanding cultures and human behaviour, and what implications does this have for the discipline?
• What are the potential benefits and risks associated with accepting modern evolutionary theory as an explanatory framework in cultural anthropology?
• How do cognitive processes influence social behaviours, and what role do they play in the transmission of cultural traits across generations?
• Should cultural anthropology devote more attention to identifying mechanisms of cultural transmissions within ethnographic fieldwork?
• In what ways can the integration of cognitive anthropology, cognitive science of religion, and cultural evolution enhance our understanding of culture transmission and socialization processes?
• How can critical voices within the field contribute to the ongoing discussion about the relevance of evolution and cognition in cultural anthropology? How do new frameworks in cultural anthropology, such as the ontological turn and posthumanism (among others), redefine traditional debates surrounding the naturalistic approach in the study of human cultures?

Expressions of interest (300-word abstracts) should be sent by email to ethnologia.polona@iaepan.edu.pl before 01.05.2025. Invited Authors will be notified by the 30.06.2025. Full articles (between 6000 to 8000 words, including bibliography) should be submitted through the Ethnologia Polona submission system. See the Author’s Guidelines. The deadline for submission of full articles is 31.01.2026. The issue will be published in 2026. For informal inquiries and questions concerning potential contributions please contact us at ethnologia.polona@iaepan.edu.pl.