Agustín Fuentes completed a B.A. in Zoology and Anthropology, and an M.A. & Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. His current foci include cooperation and bonding in human evolution, ethnoprimatology and multispecies anthropology, evolutionary theory, and public perceptions of, and interdisciplinary approaches to, human nature(s).
Fuentes’ recent books include “Evolution of Human Behavior” (Oxford University Press, “Centralizing Fieldwork: Critical Perspectives from Primatology, Biological and Social Anthropology” (Co-edited, Berghahn press), “Biological Anthropology: concepts and connections” (McGraw-Hill), “Monkeys on the Edge: ecology and management of long-tailed macaques and their interface with humans” (co-edited, Oxford University Press), and the forthcoming “Race, Monogamy, and other lies they told you: busting myths about human nature” (UC Press). Key recent articles include “Naturecultural Encounters in Bali: Monkeys, Temples, Tourists, and Ethnoprimatology” in Cultural Anthropology and “The New Biological Anthropology: Bringing Washburn’s New Physical Anthropology into 2010 and beyond” in the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. Current research projects include the ethnoprimatology of Singapore, interdisciplinary approaches to understanding human nature(s), and an evaluation of the roles of cooperation, community, and niche construction in human evolution.
Fuentes examines human evolution from several perspectives, and his research sheds light on some of the most common misconceptions about human nature, specifically in the areas of race, sex and aggression. He is the author of “Evolution of Human Behavior,” which examines how and why humans evolved behaviorally, and “Health, Risk and Adversity,” which provides a comparative approach to the analysis of health disparities and human adaptability and focuses on the pathways that lead to unequal health outcomes.
In 2020, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, where he will serve as Professor of Anthropology.
