Publications List – Chris Knight

Full cv

Book reviews of Blood Relations: Menstruation and the origins of culture.
Collated reviewers’ comments
Caroline Humphrey’s review in the London Review of Books.

See below for PDF files.

Recent publications

Knight, C. and J. Lewis (2017). Wild Voices: Mimicry, Reversal, Metaphor, and the Emergence of Language. Current Anthropology Volume 58, Number 4, August 2017.

Knight, C. (2016). Puzzles and mysteries in the origins of language. Language and Communication 50: 12–21.

Knight, C. (2016). Decoding Chomsky: Science and revolutionary politics. London & New Haven: Yale University Press.

Knight, C. (2014). Language and symbolic culture: an outcome of hunter-gatherer reverse dominance. In D. Dor, C. Knight and J. Lewis (eds), The Social Origins of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 228-246.

Knight, C. (2012). Review of Robin Dunbar, Clive Gamble and John Gowlett (eds), ‘Social brain, distributed mind.’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 18, 205-206.

Knight, C. and C. Power (2011). Social conditions for the evolutionary emergence of language. In M. Tallerman and K. Gibson (eds), Handbook of Language Evolution, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 346-349.

Knight, C. (2010a). The Origins of Symbolic Culture. In U. Frey, C. Stormer and K. P. Willfuhr (eds), Homo Novus – A human without illusions. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 193-211.

Knight, C. (2010b). The Enigma of Noam Chomsky. Radical Anthropology, 4, pp. 22-30

Knight, C. (2008). Early Human Kinship Was Matrilineal. In N. J. Allen, H. Callan, R. Dunbar and W. James (eds.), Early Human Kinship. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 61-82.

Power, C. and C. Knight, (2012). Arrest for Attempted Street Theatre. Anthropology Today 28, 1, pp. 24-26.

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Earlier publications

Knight, C. (1975). Past, Future and the Problem of Communication in the Work of V V Klhebnikov. Forward Chapter 1-10 Chapter 11-20 Appendix Bibliography

Knight, C. (1978). The origins of woman: A marxist-structuralist view of the genesis of culture. Critique of Anthropology 3: 59-87.

Knight, C. (1983). Lévi-Strauss and the dragon: Mythologiques reconsidered in the light of an Australian Aboriginal myth. Man (N.S.) 18: 21-50.

Knight, C. (1985). Menstruation as medicine. Social Science and Medicine 21: 671-683.

Knight, C. (1987), Menstruation and the origins of culture. A reconsideration of Lévi-Strauss’s work on symbolism and myth. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of London, London.

Knighy, C. (1988). Menstruation and the Australian Aboriginal Rainbow Snake. In T. Buckley and A. Gottlieb (eds), Blood Relations. The Anthropology of Menstruation. California : University of California Press.

Knight, C. (1991). On the dragon-wings of time. In I. Cardigos (ed.) Maidens, Snakes and Dragons. Cecil Papers 1, Kings College Press.

Knight, C. (1994). Why ritual? Introduction to C. Knight & C. Power (eds), Ritual and the origins of symbolism. Papers presented to the Human Evolution Interdisciplinary Research Unit conference on ritual and the origins of culture. London: University of East London Sociology Department, pp. 1-3.

Knight, C. (1994). Ritual and the origins of language. In C. Knight & C. Power (eds), Ritual and the origins of symbolism. Two papers presented to the Human Evolution Interdisciplinary Research Unit conference on ritual and the origins of culture. London: University of East London Sociology Department, pp. 4-19.

Knight, C. (1995). Tools, language and cognition. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1 (2).

Knight, C. (1995). Blood Relations: Menstruation and the Origins of Culture. New Haven and London : Yale University Press.

Knight, C. (1996). Darwinism and collective representations. In S. Shennan and J. Steele (eds), The Archaeology of Human Ancestry: Power, Sex and Tradition. London : Routledge, pp. 331-346.

Knight, C. (1996). ‘Menstruation’. In A. Barnard and J. Spencer (eds), Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. London : Routledge.

Knight, C. (1996). ‘Taboo’. In A. Barnard and J. Spencer (eds), Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. London : Routledge.

Knight, C. (1996). ‘Totemism’. In A. Barnard and J. Spencer (eds), Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. London : Routledge.

Knight, C. (1997). The Wives of the Sun and the Moon. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3 (1): 133-153.

Knight, C. (1998) Introduction: Grounding language function in social cognition. In J. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy and C. Knight (eds), Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 9-16.

Knight, C. (1998) Speech/ritual co-evolution: A selfish gene solution to the problem of deception [PDF 115KB]. In J. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy and C. Knight (eds), Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 68-91.

Knight, C. (1999). Sex and language as pretend play. In R. Dunbar, C. Knight and C. Power (eds), The Evolution of Culture. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, pp. 228-247.

Knight, C. (2000). Introduction: the evolution of cooperative communication [PDF 42KB]. In C. Knight, J. Hurford and M. Studdert-Kennedy (eds), pp. 19-26.

Knight, C. (2000). Play as precursor of phonology and syntax. In Chris Knight, M. Studdert-Kennedy and J. R. Hurford, (eds), The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social function and the origins of linguistic form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 99-119. Download PDF

Knight, C. (2000). Culture, cognition and conflict. Review article. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 10(1): 189-97.

Knight, C. (2001). Does cultural evolution need matriliny? Commentary on Rendell & Whitehead, Culture in whales and dolphins. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, Vol. 24 (2): 339-340.

Knight, C. (2002). Language and revolutionary consciousness. In A. Wray (ed.), The Transition to Language. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Knight, C. (2003). Noam Chomsky: Politics or Science? What Next? Marxist Discussion Journal. 26: 17-29.

Knight, C. (2003). Trauma, Tedium and Tautology in the Study of Ritual. Review article. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 13 (2): 293-5 (2003).

Knight, C. (2004). Decoding Chomsky. European Review 12 (4): 581-603.

Knight, C. (2004). We need behavioural ecology to explain the institutional authority of the gods. [PDF 124KB]. Commentary on Atran and Norenzayan: Religion’s evolutionary landscape. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 27(6): 30.

Knight, C. (2006a). Language co-evolved with the rule of law. In A. Cangelosi, A. D. M. Smith and K. Smith (eds) The evolution of language. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference (EVOLANG6). New Jersey & London: World Scientific Publishing, pp. 168-75.

Knight, C. 2006b. The Science of Solidarity. Weekly Worker 636. Thursday August 3.

Knight, C. (2007) The Chomsky Enigma. Weekly Worker 655, Thursday January 11. Communist Party of Great Britain, on-line.

Knight, C. (2007). Revisiting Matrilineal Priority. In J. Lasségue (ed), Émergence et évolution de la parenté. Paris: Éditions Rue d’Ulm/Presses de l’École normale supérieure, pp. 25-43.

Knight, C. (2008a). Language co-evolved with the rule of law. Mind and Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, 7 (1): 109-128.

Knight, C. (2008b). Early Human Kinship Was Matrilineal. In N. J. Allen, H. Callan, R. Dunbar and W. James (eds.), Early Human Kinship. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 61-82.

Knight, C. (2008c). Comment on Arbib, M., K. Liebal and S. Pika, Primate Vocalization, gesture and the evolution of human language. Current Anthropology, 49 (6): 1064-1065.

Knight, C. (2008d). Honest fakes and language origins. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 15(10-11): 236-48.

Knight, C. (2009a). Introduction: perspectives on the evolution of language in Africa. In R. Botha and C. Knight (eds), The Cradle of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-15.

Knight, C. (2009b). Language, ochre and the rule of law. In R. Botha and C. Knight (eds), The Cradle of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 281-303.

Knight, C. (2010a). The Origins of Symbolic Culture. In U. Frey, C. Stormer and K. P. Willfuhr (eds), Homo Novus – A human without illusions. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 193-211.

Knight, C. (2010b). The Enigma of Noam Chomsky. Radical Anthropology, 4, pp. 22-30

Knight, C. (submitted). Language, lies and lipstick: a speculative reconstruction of the Middle Stone Age ‘human revolution’. In: P. Kappeler (ed), Primate Behavior and Human Universals. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Knight, C. (in preparation) The Human Conspiracy: Deception, Speech and the Selfish Gene. Yale: Yale University Press.

Jointly authored publications

Knight, C. and C. Maisels (1994). Fertility Rights. Times Higher Educational Supplement September 23.

Knight, C. and C. Maisels (1994). An instinct for revolution. Anthropology Today 10 (6): 20-22.

Knight, C., C. Power and I. Watts (1995). The human symbolic revolution: A Darwinian account. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 5 (1): 75-114.

Knight, C. and C. Power (1995). Ochre and Sexual Deception. British Archaeology 2.

Knight, C. and C. Power (1998). The origins of anthropomorphic thinking. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 4 (1): 129-131.

Knight, C., C. Power and R. Dunbar (1999). An evolutionary approach to human culture. In R. Dunbar, C. Knight and C. Power (eds), The Evolution of Culture. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1-11.

Knight, C., M. Studdert-Kennedy and J. R. Hurford, (2000). Language: A Darwinian Adaptation? In C. Knight, J. Hurford and M. Studdert-Kennedy (eds), The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social function and the origins of linguistic form. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-15.

Rafiki, Y., C. Knight and C. Power (eds), 2002. An Arusha Declaration for 2002. Anthropology Today Vol. 18, No 4.

Knight, C. and C. Power (2005). Grandmothers, politics, and getting back to science. In E. Voland, A. Chasiotis and W. Schievenhövel (eds), Grandmotherhood: The evolutionary significance of the second half of female life. New Brunswick,, New Jersey & London: Rutgers University Press, pp. 81-98.

Knight, C. and C. Power (2006). Words are not costly displays: Shortcomings of a testosterone-fuelled model of language evolution. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29(3): 290-291.

Knight, C. and C. Power (2008). Unravelling digital infinity. In A. D. M. Smith, K. Smith and R. F. i Cancho (eds), The Evolution of Language. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference (EVOLANG 7). New Jersey & London: World Scientific, pp. 179-185

Knight, C. and C. Power (2012). Arrest for Attempted Street Theatre. Anthropology Today Vol 28 No 1, pp. 24-26.

Edited volumes

Hurford, J., M. Studdert-Kennedy and C. Knight (eds) (1998). Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., C. Knight and J. Hurford (1998). Introduction: new approaches to language evolution. In J. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy and C. Knight (eds), Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-5.

Dunbar, R., C. Knight and C. Power (eds) (1999). The Evolution of Culture. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press.

Knight, C., J. Hurford and M. Studdert-Kennedy (eds) (2000). Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Volume 2. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Botha, R. and C. Knight (eds) (2009a). The Prehistory of Language. Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press.

Botha, R. and C. Knight (eds) (2009b). The Cradle of Language. Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press.

Reviews and commentaries

Review of P. Garlake ‘The Hunter’s Vision’. British Archaeology (1995).

Review of T. Megarry ‘Society in Prehistory’. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 2 (4): 738-739 (1996).

Conference Review, ‘Evolution of Language Conference’. Anthropology Today 12 (6) (1996).

Review of V. Morrell ‘Ancestral Passions’. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3 (2): 387-388 (1997).

Review, T. Taylor ‘The Prehistory of Sex’. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 4 (1): 137-137 (1998).

Commentary on N. Humphrey ‘Cave Art, Autism, and the Evolution of the Human Mind’. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 8 (2): 183 (1998).

Commentary on N. Humphrey, ‘Cave Art, Autism, and the Evolution of the Human Mind’. Journal of Consciousness Studies 6: 132-133 (1999).

Review of T. Deacon, ‘The Symbolic Species’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5 (1): 105‑106 (1999).

Review of D. Bickerton, ‘Language and human behaviour’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5 (4): 655-656 (1999).

Review of A. Carstairs-McCarthy, The origins of complex language. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 6 (2): 339 (2000).

Review of L. Cronk, That complex whole. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 6 (4): 727-728 (2000).

Review of Roy A. Rappaport, Ritual and religion in the making of humanity. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7 (2): 380-382 (2001).

Review of K. Coe, ‘The ancestress hypothesis’. The Quarterly Review of Biology 79(1): 115 (2004).

Review of P. Carruthers and A. Chamberlain (eds), Evolution and the human mind. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7(4): 805-806 (2001).

Review of M. P. Ghiglieri, The dark side of man: tracing the origins of male violence. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8(3): 591-592 (2002).

Review of W. G. Runciman (ed.), The origin of human social institutions [PDF 104KB]. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8(4): 807-808 (2002).

Review of L. Barrett, R. Dunbar and J. Lycett, Human evolutionary psychology. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9(1): (2003).

Review of J. Marks, What it means to be 98% chimpanzee: apes, people, and their genes. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9(2): 386-87 (2003).

Review of W. Stoczkowski, Explaining human origins: myth, imagination and conjecture. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9(4): 813-814 (2003).

Review of R. G. Fox and B. J. King (eds), (2002). Anthropology beyond culture. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9(3) 608-609 (2003)

Review of R. N. McCauley & E. T. Lawson, Bringing ritual to mind: Psychological foundations of cultural form. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 13 (2): 293-5 (2003).

Review of S. Atran, In gods we trust: the evolutionary landscape of religion. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(1): 199-200 (2004).

Review of P. Valentine, Cultures of multiple fathers. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(1): 206-07 (2004).

Review of M. H. Christiansen and S. Kirby (eds), Language evolution [PDF 48KB]. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(4): 929-930 (2004).

Review of R. Mace, C. Holden and S. Shennan (eds), The evolution of cultural diversity: phylogenetic approaches [PDF 56KB]. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society, 13 (2): 227-228 (2007).

Review of N. Henrich and J. Henrich, Why humans cooperate: a cultural and evolutionary explanation. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 14(3): 695-696 (2008).

Review of K. Hawkes & R. R. Payne (eds), The evolution of human life history. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 14(3): 708-709 (2008).

Conference papers and presentations (since 1992)

Call-systems, deception and protolanguage: Towards a theory of the emergence of symbolic behavior. Paper delivered to the Human Evolution Interdisciplinary Research Group, University of Sheffield (March 1992).

Menstruation and the origins of culture. Paper delivered to the Department of Anthropology, University of Kent (November 1992).

Darwinism and collective representations. Paper delivered to the Theoretical Archaeology Group, Southampton (December 1992).

The origins of symbolic culture. Panel display, Paleolithic and Mesolithic Day Meeting, British Museum, London (February 1993).

In defence of science. Paper delivered to the Haringey Miners’ Support Group, London (April 1993).

Darwinism and the origins of language. Panel presentation, Evolution and Human Sciences Conference, London School of Economics (June 1993).

A testable theory of symbolic cultural origins. Conference on Gesture, Speech, Time and Contract, Michigan (July 1993).

Science as revolutionary knowledge. UEL Sociology Debate: Jordan v Knight, University of East London (November 1993).

The origins of language. Paper delivered to the Theoretical Archaeology Group Annual Conference, Southampton University (December 1993).

The emergence of symbolic behaviour. Paper delivered to the Ritual and the Origins of Culture Conference, School of African and Oriental Studies, London (March 1994).

An instinct for revolution? Selfish genes and the origins of language. Paper delivered to the Theoretical Archaeology Group Annual Conference, Bradford University (December 1994).

Evolution of Language. CIBA Foundation/Royal Society Discussion Meeting, London (March 1995).

Darwinism and the emergence of language. Paper delivered to the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Santa Barbara (July 1995).

Can Darwinism explain the origins of culture? UCL Anthropology Society Debate: Ingold v Knight, University College London (March 1996).

Blood magic: Menstruation and the origins of culture. Paper delivered to the Department of Social Anthropology, Queen’s University, Belfast (March 1996).

Can Darwinism explain the origins of culture? Paper delivered to the South Place Ethical Society, London (May 1996).

Ritual/speech co-evolution: A selfish gene solution to the problem of deception. Paper delivered to the Evolution of Language Conference, University of Edinburgh (April 1996).

Speech/ritual co-evolution: A ‘selfish gene’ explanation of the emergence of symbolic culture. Paper delivered to the Human Behaviour and Evolution Society Conference, Northwestern University, Illinois, USA (June 1996).

Speech/ritual co-evolution: A ‘selfish gene’ explanation of the emergence of symbolic culture. Paper delivered to the World Archaeological Congress, Forli, Italy (September 1996).

The world’s first picket line: Women and the emergence of morality. Paper delivered to the Merseyside Port Shop Stewards Committee, Transport House, Liverpool . (November 1996).

The sociobiology of deception. Paper delivered to the Oxford Human Sciences Symposium 1996, Oxford University (November 1996).

The origins of language: Current theories. Paper delivered to the Department of Human Sciences, Oxford University (December 1996).

Ritual/speech co-evolution: A Darwinian model. Paper delivered to the Theoretical Archaeology Group Annual Conference, Liverpool University (December 1996).

Evolution of language. Paper delivered to the Consciousness Studies Society, University of London (March 1997).

The current revolution in the life sciences: Prelude to social revolution. Paper delivered to the ‘Has science gone far enough’ Conference, University of East London (March 1997).

Evolution of language. Paper delivered to the European Sociobiological Society Conference on Ingroup/Out-group Behaviour, Ghent, Belgium (July 1997)

The dragon and the origins of art. Paper delivered to the 21st International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, Washington DC (November 1997)

Ritual and the evolution of syntactical speech. Paper delivered to the 2nd International Conference on the Evolution of Language, London (April 1998)

Ritual, ochre and the evolution of modern human speech. Paper delivered to the Dual Congress 1998 International Association for the study of Human Palaeontology and International Association of Human Biologists, Sun City, South Africa (July 1998)

Darwinism and the origins of language. Paper delivered to the International Youth Conference, Bergama, Turkey (August 1998)

The evolution of brideservice. Paper delivered to the Marriage, Morality and Emotions – Updating Edward Westermarck International Symposium, Helsinki, Finland (November 1998)

Laughter and the evolution of language. Paper delivered to The Institute for Cultural Research, London (April 1999)

Ritual and the evolution of culture. Keynote address, International Conference on Ritual and the Evolution of Culture, Bratislava (September 1999).

From ‘Nursing Poke’ to syntactical speech. Paper delivered to the Third International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Paris (April 2000).

Human Origins and the ‘Primitivism’ Debate. Paper delivered in the ‘Mind Benders’ session, ‘Reclaim the Future’, London (September 2000).

African Genesis: The Evolutionary Emergence of Language. Invited lecture, Dartmouth College, Department of African and African-American Studies, Hanover, U.S.A. (October 2001).

Language and Laughter. Paper delivered to the Annual Conference of the Folklore Society, London (April 2001).

The Evolutionary Emergence of Language. Research Seminars on Anthropological Theory, London School of Economics (invited guest lecturer, February 2002).

Play, Laughter and the Origins of Language. Invited public lecture, Ecole Normal Superieur, Paris (June 2002).

Menstruation and lunar timekeeping in African hunter-gatherer traditions. Paper delivered to the Association of Social Anthropologists Conference, ‘Perspectives on Time and Society: Experience, Memory, History’ (Arusha, Tanzania, 2002).

Seven Paradoxes in the Evolution of Language. Paper delivered to the Fourth International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Harvard University, Boston (April 2002).

Reclaim the Streets and the Liverpool Dockers. Invited talk and video interview, Precursors to Seattle. Annual Conference of the London Socialist Historians’ Society, University of London (May 2002).

The Evolutionary Emergence of Language. Invited lecture, Department of Psychology, University of St. Andrews (October 2002).

Speech: An exception to the handicap principle? Contribution to the ‘Costly signaling and the evolution of culture’ symposium, Human Behaviour and Evolution Society annual conference, London (June 2001).

Matrilineal priority reconsidered. Invited lecture, Atelier ‘Emergence de la parenté’, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris (November 2003).

The Human Revolution. Invited speaker, Morris Symposium on the Evolution of Language, Stony Brook University, New York, U.S.A (October 2005)

‘How the Moon got its spots’: a new look at Claude Lévi-Strauss. Theoretical Archaeology Group conference, Sheffield University, Sheffield (December 2005).

Language evolution among artificial embodied agents and populations of ancestral humans. Joint presentation by Chris Knight and Luc Steels: ‘Language, Culture and Mind’ conference, École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST) Paris (July 2006).

Human Social Evolution. Invited lecture, Summer School on Evolutionary Anthropology, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst (August 2006)

Language, ochre and the rule of law. Invited keynote address to the ‘Cradle of Language’ conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa (November 2006).

Ochre and the rule of law. Presentation to interdisciplinary symposium, ‘How Did the Brain Become Social?’ Autonomous University of Barcelona (February 2007).

Panel discussion: How Did the Brain Become Social? Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB), Barcelona (February 2007).

Invited lecture: Climate change and the earth-moon system: a perspective from hunter-gatherer ethnography and archaeology. British Museum Study Day on Archaeology and Climate Change, London (February 2008).

Media activities

Academic consultant to BBC2 Science Features (1994/5).

Interview for Greater London Radio, Magic, Myth and Folklore (January 1996).

Interview for Carlton Television’s ‘Shift’ programme (February 1996).

Academic consultant to BBC, The Seven Ages of Life (March 1996).

Academic consultant to Lara Owen (independent film producer), Her Blood is Gold (April 1996).

Academic consultant for BBC TV’s ‘ Stonehenge ‘ programme (January 1998)

Interview for Norwegian State Radio on Language Evolution (April 1998)

Interview for Danish radio programme on Language Evolution (April 1998)

Interview for RTVE (Spain) on the origins of culture (February 2007).

Other contributions

Principal lecturer at the weekly Radical Anthropology Group evening class, London.

Session Organiser: The Origins of Language, Gender and Culture: Darwinian Approaches to the ‘Human Revolution’, Theoretical Archaeological Group Annual Conference, Bradford University (1994).

Co-Organiser with J. Aitchison ( Oxford University ) and J. Hurford ( Edinburgh University ) of the International Evolution of Language Conference, Edinburgh University (1996).

Symposium Organiser: Language and the Arts: Implications of Evolutionary Theory, Human Behaviour and Evolution Society Conference, Tuscan, Arizona, USA (1997).

Local organiser with J. Aitchison (Oxford University) and J. Hurford (Edinburgh University) of the International Evolution of Language Conference, University of East London (1998).

Co-organiser with J. Aitchison ( Oxford University ), J.-L. Dessalles, (CRNS, Paris) and J. Hurford ( Edinburgh University ) of the International Evolution of Language Conference, Paris (2000).

Co-organiser with Tecumseh Fitch ( Harvard University ), J. Hurford ( Edinburgh University ) and J.-L. Dessalles (CRNS, Paris) of the International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Harvard (2002).

Co-organiser with Jean-Louis Dessales (E.N.S.T.), “Modélisation de l’émergence du langage” workshop ( Paris 2002).

Co-organiser with Bernard Comrie (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig), Jean-Louis Dessalles (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris), Tecumseh Fitch (Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin; University of St Andrews), James R Hurford (University of Edinburgh), Michael Studdert-Kennedy (Haskins Laboratories), Maggie Tallerman (University of Durham) and Alison Wray (Cardiff University) of the International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Leipzig (2004)

Co-organiser with Angelo Cangelosi (University of Plymouth), Bernard Comrie (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig), Jean-Louis Dessalles (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris), Tecumseh Fitch (University of St Andrews), James R Hurford (Edinburgh University), Maggie Tallerman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Domenico Parisis (ISTC-CNR, National Research Council Rome) and Alison Wray (Cardiff University) of the 6th International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Rome (2006).

Scientific committee member, Language, Culture and Mind conference, École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST) Paris (2006).

Scientific panel member, The Cradle of Language conference, Stellenbosch University, South Africa (2006)

Co-organiser with Ramon Ferrer i Cancho (University of Barcelona), Angelo Cangelosi (University of Plymouth), Jean-Louis Dessalles (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris), Tecumseh Fitch (University of St Andrews), James R Hurford (Edinburgh University) and Maggie Tallerman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne) of the 7th International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Barcelona (2008).

Activism

Knight, C. (1992). The Human Revolution. Socialist Organiser, August 13.

Knight, C. (1992). Who’s afraid of science? Labour Briefing, September.

Knight, C. (1996). Fighting the new Irrationalism. Labour Left Briefing, February issue.

Knight, C. (1996). A female conspiracy? Labour Left Briefing, May.

Knight, C. (1996). Life without faith? Labour Left Briefing, July.

Knight, C. (1996). Ourselves alone. Labour Left Briefing, November.

Knight, C. (1996). The world’s first picket line. Labour Left Briefing, December.

Knight, C. (1997). The Human Revolution. The Workers International Press, March.

Knight, C. (1997). The origins of human society. Towards 2012 Part III: Culture and Language, June.

Knight, C. (2006). The science of solidarity. Weekly Worker 636 August 3.

Knight, C. (2006). Solidarity and sex. Weekly Worker638 August 31.

Knight, C. (2006). The science of Marxism. Weekly Worker 642 September 28.

Knight, C. (2006). Marxism and scientific revolutions. Weekly Worker 643 October 5.

Knight, C. (2006). Lessons of October. Weekly Worker 646 October 26.

Knight, C. (2007). The Chomsky enigma. Weekly Worker 655 January 11.

Knight, C. (2007). U.S. establishment anarchist. Weekly Worker 656 January 18.

Knight, C. (2007). Chomsky’s parallel lives. Weekly Worker 657 January 25.

[Chomsky, N. (2008). Human nature and the origins of language. Radical Anthropology 2, pp. 19-23.]

Letters to the Editor

(2008) Letters. October Theses. Weekly Worker 740 October 9.

(2008) Letters. Opportunism. Weekly Worker 741 October 16.

(2008) Letters. Weekly Worker 742 October 23.

(2008) Letters. Weekly Worker /em>743 October 30.

(2008) Letters. Weekly Worker 745 November 13.

(2008) Letters. Weekly Worker 747 November 27.

Membership of professional and research organizations

Association of Social Anthropologists of the Commonwealth since 1990

British Association for Social Anthropology in Policy and Practice since 1991

European Association of Social Anthropologists since 1990

Human Behavior and Evolution Society since 1990

Radical Anthropology Group since 1985

Royal Anthropological Institute since 1977

The Primate Society since 1991

Slovak Association of Social Anthropologists (honorary member) since 2008