A Voice in the Wilderness
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A01=Joseph L Graves Jr
anthropology
antiracist
Author_Joseph L Graves Jr
belief
biology
books by Black authors
books for social change
Category=PSAJ
christianity
creationism
education
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
evolution
faith
genetics
genome
god
history
learning
literacy
memoir
misconceptions
myths
personal
professor
racism
religion
scientific
sexism
social justice
story
truth
Product details
- ISBN 9781541600713
- Weight: 600g
- Dimensions: 160 x 236mm
- Publication Date: 29 Sep 2022
- Publisher: Basic Books
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Evolution has, ever since its inception, been one of the most ideologically fraught fields in all of science. It has given birth to the myth about biological racial “types,” with distinct rankings of “genetic superiority”. Evolution has always been mistrusted by religious fundamentalists, contributing to a rise in creationist education that dovetails with the mass scientific illiteracy we see today. And today the coronavirus is mutating into ever more dangerous strands because huge swaths of the population have rejected the science that predicted this outcome if people remained unvaccinated. With so much fear and misunderstanding, it is crucial to set the record straight. Enter evolutionary biologist Joseph Graves. In A Voice in the Wilderness, he makes the case that widespread understanding of evolution is crucial to solving all these problems. Graves shows how the science of evolution can lead us to new paths of achieving social unity. He refutes common, pseudoscientific misconceptions that undergird racism, homophobia, sexism, classism, and more—all issues on which many perceive evolutionary biology to be a reactionary force. He shows how evolution can either make pandemics better, or—if its lessons are unheeded—worse. And he tackles the political and religious objections to the study of evolution as well. Graves' own experience powers much of the narrative. As a pioneering Black biologist, a leftist, and a Christian, Graves uses his personal story from a child of the Jim Crow south to a major researcher leader in his field to rewrite his field—and show how it can be a force not for reaction, but for justice. Provocative and timely, A Voice in the Wilderness is at once a powerful work of scientific antiracism and a moving history of a trailblazing life.
Joseph L. Graves Jr. is a professor of biological sciences in the department of biology at North Carolina A&T State University. He is the first African American to receive a PhD in evolutionary biology. Graves was elected a Fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1994. He is an associate director of the Triangle Center for Evolutionary Medicine and has been recently added to the board of the National Center for Science Education, with his term beginning in April 2021. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.
