By Dan Nonte, University Relations
Dr. Joseph L. Graves Jr., dean of university studies and a professor of biological sciences at N.C. A&T, will speak about his latest book, “The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America,” at 7 p.m. Feb. 21.
Graves, who will speak in Room 101 of the Science Building, received his Ph.D. in environmental, evolutionary and systematic biology from Wayne State University in 1988. He has research interests in the evolutionary genetics of postponed aging as well as the biological concepts of race in humans, which his book describes.
He argues that the racial distinctions made in American society actually have no biological basis. In other words, there is no such thing as race, and it is a fallacy to suppose appearance, athleticism or health is affected by race. Graves will present his research Feb. 21 in a talk sponsored by the African American Studies Program at UNCG.
In 1994, Graves was elected a Fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS.) In 2004, he served as university core director and professor of biological sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
From 1994 to 2004, he was professor of evolutionary biology at Arizona State University-West, holding a joint appointment in African American Studies at ASU-Main. He received the ASU–West award for scholarly research and creative activity.
He has been secretary for the Division on Integrating and Comparative Issues in the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biologists, as well as a member of the external advisory board for the National Human Genome Center at Howard University, among other distinctions.
Graves has published his work in more than 50 papers and book chapters and has appeared in six documentary films. He has been a principal investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Arizona Disease Research Commission. In addition to “The Race Myth,” he has also published the book “The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium.”
For more information on Dr. Graves’ presentation, contact Michael Cauthen in the African American Studies Program at 336-334-4494 or mdcauthe@uncg.edu.
