Jonathan Mitchell Marks (born February 8, 1955) is a professor of biological anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is known for his work comparing the genetics of humans and other apes, and for his critiques of scientific racism, biological determinism, and what he argues is an overemphasis on scientific rationalism in anthropology. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Early life and education
Born in 1955, Marks studied at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and took graduate degrees in genetics and anthropology from the University of Arizona, completing his doctorate in 1984. His work has been praised by scholars such as Alondra Nelson, Agustín Fuentes, and Barbara J. King.
Marks has also served on the board of directors of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, Nixon, Nevada.
He was elected to a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006. and a visiting research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and at the ESRC Genomics Forum at the University of Edinburgh.
Marks' published works include many scholarly articles and essays. He is an outspoken critic of scientific racism, 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 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.
As described in his book Is Science Racist?, Marks considers science to have four epistemic qualities: naturalism, experimentalism, rationalism, and a primary value on accuracy.