Embedded Files
My research focuses on motherhood among BaYaka foragers in the rainforests of the Republic of the Congo, based on long-term collaborative research with BaYaka mothers since 2015. Using approaches from behavioral ecology and anthropology, I have been studying women’s cooperation in foraging, childcare, and knowledge transmission, as well as their autonomy in household decision-making.
As an IRD Research Scientist, I work on a BaYaka mother-child health project that integrates Indigenous health knowledge into community-driven, culturally appropriate public health interventions to address maternal and child health disparities. In collaboration with BaYaka communities and Congolese research partners, the project supports community-led, locally relevant health solutions, particularly for women, in their rapidly changing socioecological contexts.
Professional Appointments
Professional Appointments
2025–present
Research Scientist (Chargée de recherche), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France
2024–2025
Research fellow, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), Toulouse School of Economics, France
2020–2024
Postdoctoral researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
v
Education
Education
2025–
Postgraduate certificate in Public Health (Distance learning), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
2020
PhD, Anthropology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
2014
MSc, Behavior and Ecology, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea
2012
BSc, Biology, Molecular and Life Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea
(see Long CV )
Fieldwork
Republic of the Congo (25 months in total), Likouala Department, Congo-Brazzaville:
2015 (7 mo); 2016 (7 mo); 2020 (1 mo); 2022 (3 mo); 2023 (3 mo); 2024 (1 mo); 2025 (3mo)
Indonesia (15 months), Gunung Halimun National Park, Java:
2012 (2 mo); 2013-2014 (13 mo)
Publications
2026
Pitt, B. & Jang, H. (In prep for Submission) Spatial language and memory diverge in BaYaka hunter-gatherers.
Visine, A. & Jang, H. (In prep for Submission) Relay cooperation between women and girls during daily foraging trips among BaYaka foragers in the Republic of the Congo.
Samuni, L., Neumann, C., Jang, H., Crockford, C., Thompson, E., Fruth, B., Girard-Buttoz, C., Hohmann, Machanda, Muller, Wrangham, R., Wittig, R. & Surbeck, M. (Under Review) Interdependence and the nature of cooperative relationships in Pan.
Tanaka, A., Jang, H., Hongo, S., & Takada, A. (Under Review) Reframing Mother-Child Closeness and Cooperative Caregiving in Hunter-Gatherer Societies.
Saral, A.S., Singh, M., Jacquet, A., Jang, H. & Derex, M. (Under revision) The emergence and cultural persistence of ineffective solutions
Venkataraman, V. V., Hagen, E., Hawkes, D. S., Hames, R., Lew-Levy, S., Jang, H., ... & Kelly, R. L. (Under revision) The Meanings and Dividends of Man the Hunter.
2025
Jang, H.*, Kandza, V., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F. & Boyette, A.H. Women’s self-reported autonomy in household decision-making varies between BaYaka foragers and Bandongo farmers in the Congo Basin. Hunter-Gatherer Research 1-24 Link
Lew-Levy, S., Kandza, V., Jang, H., Boyette, A.H., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F. & Gettler, Lee. BaYaka forager and Bantu fisher-farmer adolescent engagement with intensifying market integration in the Republic of the Congo. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Link
Jang, H.* & Redhead, D. Knowledge transmission networks in long-term and short-term learning within a foraging society. PNAS Nexus, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2025, pgaf258. Link
2024
Boyette, A.H., Fogarty, L., Visine, A.E., & Jang, H. Stepfamilies and cultural transmission dynamics in Congo Basin hunter-gatherers. Hunter Gatherer Research, 9(3-4), 323-348. Link
Hewlett, B., Boyette, A.H., Chellan, V., Dira, S., Fouts, H., Hill, K., Jang, H., Kakkoth, S., Noguchi, T., Omura, K., Schniter, E., et al. Stepfamilies, adoption and other forms of the family in hunter-gatherers. Hunter Gatherer Research, 9(3-4), 209-236. Link
Visine, A.E., Boyette, A.H., Ouamba, Y.R., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M., & Jang, H.* BaYaka mothers balance childcare and subsistence tasks during collaborative foraging in Congo Basin. Scientific Reports 14, 24893. (Visine, A.E.: supervised Master degree student) Link
Venkataraman, V.V., Hoffman, J., Farquharson, K., Davis, H.E., Hagen, E.H., Hames, R.B., Hewlett, B.S., Glowacki, L., Jang, H.,…& Stibbard-Hawkes, D.N. Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are real: a comment on Anderson et al. The Myth of Man the Hunter. Evolution and Human Behavior. Link
Kandza, V., Jang, H., Lew-Levy, S., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F. & Boyette, A.H. Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village. Evolutionary Human Science, 6, e22. Link
Jang, H.*, Ross, C.T., Boyette, A.H., Janmaat, K.R.L., Kandza, V. & Redhead, D.* Women’s subsistence networks scaffold cultural transmission among BaYaka foragers. Science Advances, 10(2), eadj2543. Link
2023
Chittar, C.R., Jang, H., Samuni, L., Honing, H., Lewis, J., van Loon, E.E. & Janmaat, K.R.L. Music production and its role in coalition signaling during foraging contexts in a hunter-gatherer society. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1218394. Link
Kandza, V., Jang, H., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F., Lew-Levy, S., & Boyette, A.H. Inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting among BaYaka foragers and Yambe farmers from the Republic of the Congo. Human Nature, 34:153–176. Link
Veen, J., Jang, H., Raubenheimer, D., van Pinxteren, B.O.C.M., Kandza, V., Meirmans, P.G., van Dam, N.M., Dunker, S., Hoffmann, P., Worrich, A. & Janmaat, K.R.L. Development of embodied capital: Diet composition, foraging skills, and botanical knowledge of forager children in the Congo Basin. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 11:935987. Link
Lappan, S., Oktaviani, R., Choi, A., Ham, S., Jang, H., Kim, S., Yi, Y., Mardiastuti, A. & Choe, J.C. Demography of a Stable Gibbon Population in High-Elevation Forest on Java. In S. M. Cheyne, & C. Thompson (eds.), Gibbon Conservation in the Anthropocene. Cambridge University Press.
2022
Jang, H.*, Janmaat, K.R.L., Kandza, V. & Boyette, A.H. Girls in early childhood increase food returns of nursing women during subsistence activities of the BaYaka in the Republic of Congo. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Link
Yi, Y., Choi, A., Lee, S., Ham, S., Jang, H., Oktaviani, R., Mardiastuti, A. & Choe, J.C. Transient co-singing of offspring and mothers in non-duetting Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10:910260. Link
2021
Boyette, A.H., Lew-Levy, S., Jang, H. & Kandza, V. Social ties in the Congo Basin: Insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbors. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 377: 20200490. Link
Jang, H.* & Boyette, A.H. Observations of cooperative pond fishing by BaYaka and Bantu people in the Flooded Forest of the Northern Republic of Congo. African Study Monographs, 41(2). Link
Jang, H.*, Oktaviani, R., Kim, S., Mardiastutie, A. & Choe, J.C. Do Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch) use fruiting synchrony as a foraging strategy? American Journal of Primatology, 83(10): e23319. Link
Janmaat, K.R.L., de Guinea, M., Collet, J., Byrne, R.W., Robira, B., van Loon, E., Jang, H., Biro, D., Ramos-Fernández, G., Ross, C.T., Presotto, A., Allritz, M., Alavi, S. & Van Belle, S. Using natural travel paths to infer and compare primate cognition in the wild. iScience, 24: 102343. Link
2020
Yi, Y., Fichtel, C., Ham, S., Jang, H. & Choe, J.C. Fighting for what it’s worth: participation and outcome of inter-group encounters in a pair-living primate, the Javan gibbon (Hylobates moloch). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 74(8): 96. Link
2019
Jang, H.*, Boesch, C., Mundry, R., Ban, S.D. & Janmaat, K.R.L. Travel linearity and speed of human foragers and chimpanzees during their daily search for food in tropical rainforests. Scientific Reports, 9:11066 Link
Jang, H.*, Boesch, C., Mundry, R., Kandza, V. & Janmaat, K.R.L. Sun, age, and test location affect spatial orientation in human foragers in rainforests. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Volume 286, Issue 1907 Link
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse