Jonathan Mitchell Marks (born February 8, 1955) is a professor 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 ...

at the

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte, or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs thr ...

. He is known for his work comparing the

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

human 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 ...

s and other

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...

s, and for his critiques of

scientific racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...

biological determinism Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, wheth ...

, and what he argues is an overemphasis on scientific

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

in anthropology. He is a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Early life and education

Born in 1955, Marks studied at the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

and took graduate degrees in

and

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 ...

from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, completing his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1984. When Marks was beginning his career, few anthropologists held degrees in genetics. ''The Charlotte Observer'' quotes him as saying, “Twenty-five years ago I was sort of avant garde. Now it’s much more common.”

Career

Marks is a leading figure in anthropology, especially when it comes to public discussions of race.Moser, Cody
“Is Science Racist?” Book Review
Aero. 18 January 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019. His work has been praised by scholars such as

Alondra Nelson Alondra Nelson (born April 22, 1968) is an American academic, policy advisor, non-profit administrator, and writer. She is the Harold F. Linder chair and professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, an independ ...

Agustín Fuentes Agustín Fuentes is an American primatologist and biological anthropologist at Princeton University and formerly the chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. His work focuses largely on human and non-human primate ...

, and Barbara J. King. Marks did post-doctoral research in the genetics department at

UC-Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institution was ...

from 1984 to 1987, then taught at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

for ten years and

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

for three, before settling in Charlotte where he is now a professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.http://anthropology.uncc.edu/sites/anthropology.uncc.edu/files/media/JONCV.pdf Marks has also served on the board of directors of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism,

Nixon, Nevada Nixon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County, Nevada, United States, USA. The population was 374 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 census. It is part of the Reno, Nevada, Reno–Sparks, Nevada, Sparks ...

. He was elected to a fellow of the

in 2006. In 2009, Santa Fe's

School for Advanced Research The School for Advanced Research (SAR), until 2007 known as the School of American Research and founded in 1907 as the School for American Archaeology (SAA), is an advanced research center located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. Since 1 ...

awarded him its J. I. Staley Prize for his book ''What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee:'' ''Apes, People and their Genes.'' In their award citation, the review panel noted that the book "is being read across anthropological disciplines" and "engages with issues directly relevant to the future of humanity." He received the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal in 2012, honoring his career of intellectual inquiry. Since then he has been a Templeton Fellow (2013–2014) and a Director's Fellow (2019–2020) 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 ...

's Institute for Advanced Study, and a visiting research fellow at the

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte) is a scientific research institute founded in March 1994. It is dedicated to addressing fundamental questions of the history of knowled ...

in Berlin and at the ESRC Genomics Forum at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Views

Marks' 2002 book ''What it Means to be 98% Chimpanzee'' argued that there is a significant gap between scientists' knowledge of genetics and their understanding of its functional significance. In opposition to

, Marks explores evidence for synergy between genetic and cultural factors in shaping human traits such as body shape, school performance, athleticism, and even menstrual cycles. Marks' published works include many scholarly articles and essays. He is an outspoken critic of

, and has prominently argued against the idea that " race" is a natural category. In Marks's view, "race" is a negotiation between patterns of

biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

variation and patterns of perceived difference. He argues that race and human diversity are different subjects, and do not map on to one another well. This view is now the stated consensus of the

American Association of Biological Anthropologists The American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) is an international group based in the United States which affirms itself as a professional society of biological anthropologists. The organization sponsors two peer-reviewed science ...

. As described in his book ''Is Science Racist?'', Marks considers science to have four epistemic qualities: naturalism,

experimentalism Experimentalism is the philosophical belief that the way to truth is through experiments and empiricism. It is also associated with instrumentalism, the belief that truth should be evaluated based upon its demonstrated usefulness. Experimentalism is ...

, and a primary value on

accuracy Accuracy and precision are two measures of ''observational error''. ''Accuracy'' is how close a given set of measurements (observations or readings) are to their ''true value''. ''Precision'' is how close the measurements are to each other. The ...

. In this book and in ''Why I Am Not a Scientist'', he argues that anthropologists have an ambiguous relationship with science because their goal of illuminating the human condition requires both scientific and

humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

frameworks. In reference to the titles of his books, Marks has stated that "he would like it to be known, for the record, that he is about 98% scientist, and not a chimpanzee."

Selected works

* ''Evolutionary Anthropology'', with Edward Staski (1991). . * ''Human Biodiversity'' (1995). . * ''What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People and their Genes'' (2002). . * ''Why I Am Not a Scientist'' (2009). . * ''The Alternative Introduction to Biological Anthropology'' (2010). . * ''Tales of the Ex-Apes: How We Think about Human Evolution'' (2015). . * ''Is Science Racist?'' (2017). .

References

External links

Blog review of Why I Am Not a ScientistFaculty page, UNCCpersonal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marks, Jonathan 1955 births American anthropologists Johns Hopkins University alumni Living people University of Arizona alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty University of California, Davis alumni University of North Carolina at Charlotte faculty Yale University faculty