Summary Of Race Monogamy And Other Lies They Told You

A treat for lovers of illuminating the truths of our world, Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths About Human Nature by an anthropologist by the name of Augustin Fuentes, outlines three major ideologies within the constructs of our species: humans can be sorted into biological groups or races, we are a violent species when culture is absent, and there are significant differences between men and women. The underlying principles of these notions change the way we view the world as well as the way we view ourselves and interact with each other. Fuentes prepares the reader to critically analyze the concepts of race, innate aggression, and contrast in aspects of sex and goes on to break down each one into definitive concepts to show the reader what is
true and what is false in addition to illustrating the inevitable intricacy that humans actually are. Fuentes organizes his research into two parts within the book.
Chapters one through three provides the reader with substantial background information to help make sense of the facts he puts forward in later chapters where the actual myth-debunking begins. He starts by defining what a myth is and reviewing the debate about what human nature is. While a myth has more than one definition depending on what culture it comes from, Fuentes bases his premise on a myth being “a popular but false way of explaining things” (pg. 19). Human nature is harder to pinpoint, however. It’s ultimately “naturenurtural” and more of a fusion of nature and nurture than a product of adding them together and claiming a percentage. The significance of science is also touched upon and how the truths discovered within its discipline can be misunderstood and warped to “align” with myths like those of race, aggression, or sex. Fuentes makes an example of the common phrase “ignorance is bliss” and shows that education and access to unbiased information puts us at an advantage while remaining ignorant idealistically helps us to be happy, but is more likely to cause extreme disadvantages in human relations (Fuentes
19-30). The remainder of Part One goes into the depths regarding why understanding the significance of culture and evolution are necessary to understanding the truths and falsities behind the presented myths. Circling back to the “naturenurtural” concept, Fuentes shows that our biocultural approach to looking at the innerworkings of the human species is behind everything that we are. After using multitudes of data concerning culture and biology to establish their scientific truths, he has reduced this knowledge into eight key concepts—a combination of our basic understanding of both culture and evolution—that he calls a “tool-kit” for examining race, aggression, and sex. Cultures gives us meaning and allows us to create different realities based off of an individual’s specific social constructs they are a part of, some of which prove to be more powerful than others.