Agustin Fuentes’ research explores why and how of being human while delving into the lives of humanity’s evolutionary ancestors to examine people’s doing all around the globe. He is mostly interested in what fascinates humans and their closest relatives. Using his book, “Race, Monogamy, and other likes they told you: Busting myths about human nature,” Fuentes covers three major myths about human nature. He utilizes an engaging story and scientific evidence to counter the pernicious and pervasive myths of human behavior. Fuente integrates a clear understanding of genetics, evolution, and culture that require people to dispose of the notions of “nature or nature” while exploring the misconceptions regarding aggression, sex, and race and what they mean for humans. One of the myths presented by Fuente is about race, which posits that humans are divided into biological races, a misconception that has been represented in the society hence impacting people’s perceptions of those whom the myth is applied.
The Myth of Race Portrayal in the Book.
People should care myths about how resilient myths of race are in spite of their inaccuracy because they matter in daily existence. Although race is not anything biological, racism can undoubtedly influence human biology. The fallacy behind Fuente’s myth about race is that human being is divided into different biological races, for instance, Black, White, and Asian among others and that each group possesses specific natural differences. According to Fuentes, this is the biggest myth as division such as Black, White, and Asian are genetic and some evolution biological division of human across the globe. That, Fuente regards as false. The myth represents that the racial structure can influence how the body and immune systems functions, such occurring from one’s own racialized self-image and access to health care. This implies that race, although it is not a biological unit, it can have significant societal impacts and biological implications because of the effects of racism. Such can be significantly essential to the people interested in education, health, and cognition development; any individual who is willing to use the race and variation knowledge to change their lives or that of others. It would be difficult to develop solutions to racial inequalities and those problems associated with ethnic relation are cannot frequently emerge if a large percent of the public believes in the biological races myths.
There exist a significant biological variation between and within the larger population in the world, but ethnicity ≠ race. Such variation pattern can be shaped by language, culture, history, geography, history or ecology. The race is not a valid way to regard human biological variation as most biological anthropologists have a universal agreement and understanding of the interpretation and description of variation in human nature and species — for instance, the fact that race cannot be used to accurately or productively describe human biological variation. Besides, they seem to agree that some of the biological variations are divided up among individuals from the various population and also among larger grouping in a specific population.
How the Myth is used
The myth about race being divided into biological races is a misconception that has been represented in the media. For instance, in the U.S the Black Americans are often perceived as drug dealers or addicts, which is something that is deeply rooted even in the pop culture as most movies depicts Blacks who have been entrenched or adversely affected by the drug. Contrary, it is hard to find a film following uneventful drug abuse or dealings by the Whites. Although the myth about race is false, it is widespread, such means that if people can see the differences existing in confinement rates between the White and Black, the differences in IQ scores between White and Asian, or that difference in sports performance or sexuality. When this happens, people tend to think that there exists a biological evolutionary reason, which is part of being human. It is a myth that has been used by the racialized public and scientists for decades.
From a broader view, there are no genes that are unique to Asians, whites or blacks, but there exist more genetic sequence variation in populations from Africa than in all the other populations from all other continents. No neurological pattern, structure and muscle development, hand-eye coordination or digestive tracts that can distinguish races from one to another. The most that skin color can tell about an individual is how much they are related to the equator, but not anything about their specific descendants. There are no genes that show that blacks in America profoundly affected by certain diseases such as high blood pressure. Similarly, there are no genes of a certain cancer are assigned to specific race. Thus, no single unique biological factor is associated with a particular group like black, Latino, Asian, or White. Currently, no scientific method can be applied to justify the racial classification based on biology. Such cannot be used to imply that human does not have a biological variation as they do vary in a lot of ways. But, it illustrates that the variation is not racially assigned.
Effects of the Myths on People’s Perceptions
Most of the times, people practice discrimination based on an individual’s race as they fell that this person is not as capable as others and might need to achieve something. Maybe the only reason why people acts terribly or do wrong is when they think they are doing the right. For example, Nelson Mandela who is considered a hero by many argued that no one is born hating, but instead, they learn how to hate. This statement is true, but unfortunately, people get to grow and learn in a society that leads people into hatred through its culture. Racial discrimination happens when people learn how to hate, which is intrinsic in human.
From a personal perspective, myths have an impact on how people feel, think or act as they tend to use various societal misconceptions to help navigate their daily lives through the underlying assumptions of what is happening. For instance, if people believe in the idea that humanity is divided into different biological groups, the notion helps them shape how they perceive and act towards others, what they expect, what they can achieve, and question whether or to build an increasingly diverse society. The book significantly influence one’s understanding of the myth of race and personal thinking as it helps one see the world in a different. The book creates the need for one to be both realist but cautious at the same time due to the drastic changes occurring across the globe.
Conclusion
According to the way Fuentes has represented the myth of race, it is safe to think that things regarding race and racial discrimination are getting better as demography keep happening. The world is dramatically changing and those who hold power but do not agree with the pattern of change- they will soon be out of control according to changes happening in the world. In America, race is a cultural construct that influences people's racial inequality and social realities that can affect a person’s biology, but is not assigned to a specific population.
