Agustín Fuentes is an American primatologist and biological anthropologist at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and formerly the chair of the Department of Anthropology at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. His work focuses largely on human and non-human primate interaction, pathogen transfer, communication, cooperation, and human social evolution.

Education and career

Fuentes was born on July 30, 1966 in Santa Barbara,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and graduated from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

with a B.A. in

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

, as well as an M.A. and PhD in Anthropology. He has since been researching fields of

biological anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly fro ...

and

primatology Primatology is the scientific study of non-human primates. It is a diverse discipline at the boundary between mammalogy and anthropology, and researchers can be found in academic departments of anatomy, anthropology, biology, medicine, psychol ...

, exploring the entanglement of biological systems with the social and cultural dimensions. He began his academic career at

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington, United States. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academi ...

and most recently served at the

in a number of different roles, including Director of the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts as well as Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology. Beginning in fall 2020, he has served as professor in the Department of Anthropology at

. Fuentes was elected as a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 2020.

Work

One of Fuentes' major impacts on the field of primatology has been his work on human and non-human primate interactions. He has worked extensively with populations of

macaques The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and Europe (in Gibraltar). Macaques are principally fru ...

in Bali and

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, where the monkeys are a large tourist attraction, focusing on the spread of diseases between humans and macaques. In 2021, Fuentes co-founded the Long-Tailed Macaque Project. He has also done extensive work in the area of human social evolution, particularly relating to the neurological aspects. Fuentes believes that increased social complexity was necessary for our interaction with the environment and within our own social groups.Guibert, Susan. (September 18, 2005)
Continuing Brain Evolution Tied to Cultural Behaviors
". Retrieved November 22, 2019. It is this increased complexity along with primate biology and a changing environment that he believes is responsible for the success of

humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

in terms of expansion beyond the limits of most animal species.

Select publications

Books

* *A. Fuentes. 2019 ''Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being''. Yale University Press. *A. Fuentes. 2017 ''The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional''. Dutton (Penguin Random House). *A. Fuentes. 2012 ''Race, Monogamy and Other Lies They Told You: Busting myths about human behavior''. University of California Press. *C. Campbell, A. Fuentes, K. MacKinnon, S. Bearder, R. Stumpf P. Dolhinow, A. Fuentes, eds. 2010. ''The Nonhuman Primates''. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *A. Fuentes. 2008. ''Evolution of Human Behavior''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. * C. Panter-Brick, A. Fuentes, eds. 2008. ''Health, Risk and Adversity''. New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books *A. Fuentes. 2006. ''Core Concepts in Biological Anthropology''. New York: McGraw-Hill. *A. Fuentes, L.D. Wolfe. 2002. ''Primates Face to Face: The Conservation Implications of Human-nonhuman Primate Interconnections''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *P. Dolhinow, A. Fuentes. 1999. ''The Nonhuman Primates''. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Articles

*A. Fuentes, S. Kalchik, L. Gettler, A. Kwiatt, M. Konecki, L. Jones-Engel. 2008. "Characterizing Human–Macaque Interactions in Singapore". ''American Journal of Primatology'' 70(9):879-883. . . . *D.L. Cohn, V. Smith, M. Pizarro, L. Jones-Engel, G. Engel, A. Fuentes, E. Shaw, J. Cortes. "Pediculosis in Macaca sylvanus of Gibraltar". ''Veterinary Parasitology'' 145(1/2):116-119. . . . *A. Fuentes. 2006. "Human Culture and Monkey Behavior: Assessing the Contexts of Potential Pathogen Transmission between Macaques and Humans". ''American Journal of Primatology'' 68(9):880-896. . . *A. Fuentes. 2004. "It's Not All Sex and Violence: Integrated Anthropology and the Role of Cooperation and Social Complexity in Human Evolution". ''American Anthropologist'' 106(4):710-718. . . *A. Fuentes. 2013. Evolutionary Perspectives and Transdisciplinary Intersections. A Roadmap to Generative Areas of Overlap in Discussing the Human Nature. ''Theology and Science'' 11(2):106–129. .

References

External links

Agustín Fuentes at University of Notre Dame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuentes, Agustin 21st-century American anthropologists American primatologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Notre Dame faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni Scientists from Santa Barbara, California