A Problematic Test of the Kin Selection Hypothesis Among the Urak-Lawoi of Ko Lipe, Thailand: Commentary on Camperio Ciani, Battaglia, and Liotta (2015)

Abstract

Camperio Ciani et al. argued that the Urak-Lawoi people of Ko Lipe island live in a “traditional,” “subsistence primitive society” reminiscent of the “ancestral” human past and that their socio-cultural situation is “remarkably similar” to Samoa. On this basis, they asserted that the Ko Lipe Urak-Lawoi are an appropriate population for determining the role that kin selection played in the evolution of male androphilia. The purpose of this commentary is to outline some of our concerns with this characterization and with the statistical analyses conducted by Camperio Ciani et al. in their study of the Urak-Lawoi.

Acknowledgments

PLV thanks Susan Entz, Scott Semenyna, the University of Lethbridge, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Notes

¹The spelling of Ko Lipe can vary. We have chosen to utilize the most commonly employed spelling.

²Camperio Ciani and colleagues also discussed research they conducted in Italy and Spain. Due to space restrictions, the focus of this commentary is on their Urak-Lawoi work.

³Camperio Ciani and colleagues referred to na-ning using the ethnographically imprecise term kathoey—a Thai word that refers to transgendered males. Both Urak-Lawoi na-ning and Thai kathoey live on Ko Lipe. Because Camperio Ciani and colleagues employed the word kathoey in describing na-ning, it is unclear whether they distinguished between the two.