William Jankowiak

Request as Media Expert

Professor of Anthropology

Expertise: Chinese Family, Chinese Ethnicity, Polygamous Communities, Love and Intimacy

Biography

William Jankowiak is an internationally recognized authority on urban Chinese society, urban Mongols, Mormon fundamentalist polygyny, and love around the world.

Jankowiak is often invited to present the results of his research as well called on by media to provide background information on various topics. His research has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, Time magazine, NPR, History Channel, TLC, ABC Primetime, and NBC.

Jankowiak has authored over 115 academic and professional publications. He is the author of Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City: An Anthropological Account (Columbia University, 1993); editor of Romantic Passion: A Universal Experience? (Columbia University, 1995), and Intimacies: Between Love and Sex (Columbia University, 2008); and (with Dan Bradburd) Stimulating Trade: Drugs, Labor and Expansion (Arizona University, 2003).

In addition, he has edited two special journal volumes: Well Being, Family Affections, and Ethical Nationalism in Urban China (Journal of Urban Anthropology), (with Jiemin Bao) Polygynous Society: Ethnographic Overviews from Five Cultures, and a book-length overview (with Robert Moore) on the Chinese family (Polity Press). His current writing projects include completing City Days, City Nights: The Individual and Social Life in a Chinese City: 1981-2011 (Columbia University Press). Presently, he is completing an ethnography of a Mormon Fundamentalist polygamous community (Columbia University Press).

Education

Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

Search For Other Experts On

psychology & human behavior, relationships

William Jankowiak In The News

The Femme Fatale Archetype: Mate Preference, Intimacy, and Deception

Heliox: Where Evidence Meets Empathy

She walks through the door. You already know this story. But here's what you don't: the femme fatale isn't a Hollywood invention — and she was never warning you about her. Heliox explores anthropologist William Jankowiak's landmark cross-cultural study of dangerous-woman folklore across 84 global societies, from the Igbo of West Nigeria to Aboriginal Australia to modern South Korean farms. The finding that changes everything? In 89% of those cultures, the man wasn't destroyed because he wanted a fling. He wanted to fall in love.

The “femme fatale” might be a universal myth driven by the fear of romantic deception

PsyPost

A recent study published in the journal Social Sciences has found that stories about dangerous, attractive women are almost universal across different cultures. These cautionary tales suggest that men tend to fear the risks of emotional attachment and heartbreak just as much as they are drawn to physical beauty. Ultimately, this research indicates that the famous “femme fatale” character stems from human evolutionary psychology rather than simply local cultural attitudes.

How Did Humans End Up Smooching on the Lips? It May Have Started Out With a 21-Million-Year-Old Kiss

Smithsonian Magazine

Kissing, for all popularity, is a bit of a mystery. Scientists have long debated when humans’ ancestors first put their lips together, and whether the act is simply a cultural trait. A new study suggests giving someone a peck has a long history, dating up to around 21 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. The work was published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior on November 19.

When was the first kiss? Over 17 million years ago, a study suggests.