Anthropology Faculty

Professor; Associate Dean of Social & Behavioral Sciences in CLAS
Biological Anthropology
Ph.D., Massachusetts-Amherst 1974

Research Areas:
Biological anthropology, population structure, historical demography and historical epidemiology; Finland

mielke@ku.edu | Fraser Hall, #606a; Strong Hall, #200 | (785) 864-3661

Besides being a Professor in the department, Jim Mielke is currently Associate Dean for the Social and Behavioral Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He was chair of the Anthropology Department for eight years before assuming his current role. Besides his administrative duties he enjoys teaching classes such as Fundamentals of Physical Anthropology and Adaptation and Disease. In collaboration with Professors Lyle Konigsberg (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and John Relethford (SUNY College at Oneonta) he recently completed the second edition of a book titled Human Biological Variation (Oxford University Press, 2011). His research interests include historical demography, historical epidemiology, and human variation and adaptation. His research has taken him to Finland and Costa Rica.

Selected publications:
Mielke, JH; LW Konigsberg; and JH Relethford (2011)  Human Biological Variation, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press.

Mielke, J.H. and A. Fix (2007) The confluence of anthropological genetics and anthropological demography.  In: Anthropological Genetics: Theory, Methods, and Applications, edited by M.H. Crawford, Cambridge University Press, Pages 112-140.

Mielke, J.H. (2003) War and Population Composition in Åland, Finland. Human Biologists in the Archives:
Demography, Health, Nutrition and Genetics, edited by D. Ann Herring and  Alan C. Swedlund, Cambridge
University Press, pp. 216-233.

Mielke, J.H. (2002) Warfare and Population Structure. In: Human Biology and History, edited by Malcolm Smith,
Taylor and   Francis Publishers, pp. 98-111.

Mielke, J.H.; Relethford, J.H.; and Eriksson, A.W. (1994) Temporal trends in migration in the Åland Islands:  The effects of population size and geographic distance. Human Biology 66(3): 407-418.

Relethford, J.H. and Mielke, J.H. (1994) Marital exogamy in the Åland Islands, Finland, 1750-1949. Annals of Human Biology 21(1): 13-21.

Pitkänen, K.J. and Mielke, J.H. (1993) Age and sex differentials in mortality during two nineteenth century
population crises.  European Journal of Population 9(1): 1-32.

Mielke, J.H. and K.J. Pitkänen (1989) War demography:  The impact of the 1808-09 war on the civilian population of Åland, Finland.  European Journal of Population 5: 373-398.

Mielke, J.H.; Jorde, L.B.; Trapp, P.G.; Anderton, D.L.; Pitkänen, K.; and Eriksson, A.W.(1984) Historical
epidemiology of smallpox in Åland, Finland: 1751‑1890.  Demography 21: 271‑295.