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Luis was born and grew up in Puebla, a city in east-central Mexico. He holds a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from the National University of Mexico (UNAM) and a PhD in Philosophy of Science from UNAM. His academic journey has been enriched by numerous research positions and international collaborations.

Academic and Research Experience

During his doctoral studies, Luis was a visiting student at the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge (January-June 2016) and a writing-up fellow at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI) in Klosterneuburg, Austria (March-September 2018).

After completing his PhD, he conducted a research stay at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Vienna (June-December 2020), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the KLI (January 2021-March 2023), where he remained as a guest researcher until March 2024. From October 2021 to September 2023, he held a lectureship in Mexican traditional music at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (MDW).

Fieldwork and Research

Luis has conducted extensive fieldwork with indigenous groups in Mexico for several years, studying and immersing himself in their musical traditions. This ethnographic work informs his theoretical research on cultural evolution and musical transmission.

Research Focus

Luis’s work sits at the intersection of evolutionary biology, cultural evolution, cognitive sciences of music, and ethnomusicology. He is developing a theoretical framework to better understand the complex dynamics of cultural inheritance and change that operate across multiple temporal and spatial scales. His research employs conceptual tools from evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo) to analyze processes of musical transmission and change.

Research Interests

  • Cultural evolution
  • Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo)
  • Ethnomusicology and musical traditions
  • Philosophy of biology
  • Embodied cognition
  • Musical transmission and cultural inheritance
  • Music and evolution
  • Indigenous knowledge systems

Publications

Méndez-Alonso, Manuel and Villanueva, Luis Alejandro (accepted). Overcoming medical scholasticism in New Spain: experience and indigenous knowledge in Arias de Benavides’ treatment of syphilis. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences.

Villanueva, Luis Alejandro and Müller, G. (forthcoming). An Evo-Devo Model for the Evolution of Music. To appear in Ravignani, A. (ed.). The biology of Music: Interdisciplinary insights. Oxford University Press.

Villanueva, Luis Alejandro and Villegas, Cristina (forthcoming). Procesos de transmisión musical: el son jarocho y el enfoque evo-devo de reproducción cultural (Processes of musical transmission: the son jarocho and the evo-devo approach to cultural reproduction). To appear in Cruz-Zavaleta, M & Martínez de la Rosa, A (coords). Son en Perspectiva, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico.

Méndez, Manuel and Villanueva, Luis Alejandro (2022). Enfermedades en las Indias y legitimación de la aspiración social criolla en la obra médica de Juan de Cárdenas. Historia Unisinos. 23(6): 490-502. https://doi.org/10.4013/hist.2022.263.08

Vianna Franco M.P., Molnár O, Laciny A, Treven M, Weger J, da Motta e Albuquerque E, Cazzolla Gatti R, Villanueva Hernandez LA, and others (2022). Diversity regained: Precautionary approaches to COVID-19 as a phenomenon of the total environment. Science of The Total Environment 825(2):1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154029

Cazzolla Gatti R, Menéndez L, Laciny A, Bobadilla H, Bravo G, Carmen E, Dorninger C, Fabris F, Grunstra N, Schnorr S, Stuhlträger J, Villanueva Hernandez LA, Jakab M, Sarto-Jackson I, and Caniglia G (2021). Diversity lost: COVID-19 as a phenomenon of the total environment. Science of The Total Environment. 756: 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144014

Martínez, Sergio and Villanueva, Luis Alejandro (2018). Musicality as Material Culture. Adaptive Behaviour, 26(5): 257-267. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712318793123

Martínez, Sergio and Villanueva, Luis Alejandro (2018). Las prácticas musicales como corporización de tecnologías básicas de la cognición social (Musical practices as embodied technologies of basic cognition). Metatheoria. Revista de Filosofía e Historia de la Ciencia, 8(2):1-14. https://doi.org/10.48160/18532330me8.171

Villanueva, Luis Alejandro (2018). Hacia un modelo explicativo de la diversidad sonora del carnaval en la ciudad de Puebla y zonas conurbadas (Towards an explanatory model of the musical diversity of the Carnival in Puebla and neighbouring areas).