Polly Wiessner received her bachelor's degree in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence University in 1969.
Wiessner has previously been a visiting professor at the University of Aarhus in Denmark and Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris, France.
She focused on why hunters aimed to kill large game knowing the meat will feed more than enough people.
[4] Wiessner has spent 40 years studying the effects of modern technology on traditional cultural practices, in particular the Kalahari San people of Southern Africa and the Enga of Papua New Guinea.
[5] For the past 30 years, she has studied how modern weaponry has affected the war traditions and the relationships of the Egna.
[6] Wiessner has researched how the use of firelight in prehistoric human populations led to increased chances for socialization after dark.
[7] While researching firelight she looked at how the extended awake time shifted circadian rhythms and led to an extended work day, causing unproductive economic hours and productive social hours.
[8] In addition to her research, Wiessner heads various philanthropic efforts, mostly to secure continued food and water resources for the cultures she has worked with.
Historical Vines: Enga Networks of Exchange, Ritual and Warfare in Papua New Guinea.
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. (Edited volume) Food and the Status Quest.
The Challenges of Village Courts and Operation Mekim Save among the Enga of Papua New Guinea Today: A View from the Inside.
Wiessner, P. Reconsidering the behavioral basis for style: A case study among the Kalahari San.
[3] Wiessner established the Tradition and Transition Fund in 2006, a non-profit that addresses the current needs of the populations she has studied: food security for the Kalahari Bushman and constructing a museum/research center in Enga, the Enga Take Anda or ‘house of traditional knowledge’.