#302 Jonathan Marks: Origin Stories In The Science Of Human Evolution
RECORDED ON DECEMBER 19th, 2019.
Dr. Jonathan Marks is Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His primary training is in biological anthropology and genetics. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2012 he was awarded the First Citizen’s Bank Scholar’s Medal from UNC Charlotte. In recent years he has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the ESRC Genomics Forum in Edinburgh, at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and a Templeton Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Notre Dame. He is a significant figure in anthropology, especially on the topic of race. Dr. Marks is skeptical of genetic explanations of human behavior, of “race” as a biological category, and of science as a rationalistic endeavor. He’s the author of books like The Alternative Introduction to Biological Anthropology, Tales of the Ex-Apes: How We Think about Human Evolution, and Is Science Racist?.
In this episode, we talk about the ways we think about human evolutionary story as an origins story. We refer to the differences between a popular origin story and a scientific one. We address hominin species classification, and the concepts of ancestry and kinship. We discuss if “race” is a scientifically accurate term, and also the influence of biology and culture in human behavior, passing through the notion of “human universal”. Finally, we discuss if science is inevitably a value-laden enterprise, and the myths behind its history.
Time Links:
Origin stories in studying human evolution
What is a scientific origin story?
Problems with hominin species classification
Ancestry and kinship
Is “race” scientific?
Biology, culture, and human behavior
About human universals
Is science a value-laden enterprise?
Mythology behind the history of science
What we can expect from a mature science of anthropology?
Follow Dr. Marks’ work!
Follow Dr. Marks’ work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2JgtyXQ
YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/34yQQ2V
Works on ResearchGate: http://bit.ly/2W7i5Pn
Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2s46Axp
Some relevant books:
The Alternative Introduction to Biological Anthropology: https://amzn.to/34CgtQb
Tales of the Ex-Apes: How We Think about Human Evolution: https://amzn.to/2sIp7Q5
Is Science Racist?: https://amzn.to/2Z3plNP
What it Means to be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People, and their Genes: https://amzn.to/2EBGCEq