Joseph L. Graves

Joseph L. Graves, Jr. is a Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Arizona State University West. He is engaged in an examination of the evolution of life history and physiological performance in Drosophila, a genus of small flies often called fruit flies. A particular application of this research has been to the evolutionary theory of aging. Using his background in evolutionary biology, he has also written two books that address myths and theories of race in American society. Graves has made appearances in six documentary films on these general topics. He has been a Principal Investigator on grants from the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation and the Arizona Disease Research Commission.

Research
Working with Laurence D. Mueller, Graves found that population density is an important factor in determining both the immediate chances of survival and the course of natural selection for small organisms such as fruit flies. In Chance, Development, and Aging, Human Biology December 2001 graves wrote that the explanation of individual patterns of aging must take into account subtle mechanisms such as extensive chance variations in cell number and connections, in cell fates during differentiation, and in physiological patterns that arise during development. Graves has studied the tiny insects for more than a decade in pursuit of greater understanding of senescence, the process of aging.

In addition to the study of aging, Graves is interested in the history and philosophy of science as it relates to the biology of race and racism in western society. He has received a fair amount of attention from the press for his writings on this topic, especially his strong statements about the socially constructed nature of race. Graves writes that there are still significant academic and popular views of race that are mired in the biological determinism of the 19th century and the application of proper scientific method and philosophy, along with quantitative genetics reveals the underlying racist ideology of these programs.

Biography
Graves lives in Glendale, AZ. In addition to his research interests, Graves has also been an active participant in the struggle to protect and improve the teaching of science in the public schools. He advocates discussing human biological variation and race in high school and college science curricula.

Childhood experiences shaped Graves interest in race and racism. "My parents were poor. They didn’t know how to read. I had to teach myself how to read," he says. "The school system of my home was racially biased. When I was in kindergarten teachers wanted to declare me mentally retarded so that I could be placed in a special education curriculum. The regular curriculum had a tracking system," Graves continues. "For no apparent reason, all the black kids ended up in the lower track." But, by graduation day, years later, Graves had risen to be among the highest ranked students at his high school. Yet he received no awards or scholarships.

Books

 * The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium 2003. ISBN 081352847X Published by: Rutgers University Press (February 2001)
 * The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America 2004. ISBN 0452286581 Published by:Plume; Reprint edition (June 28, 2005)

Papers

 * The effect of superoxide dismutase alleles on aging in Drosophila Genetica Volume 91, Numbers 1-3 / February, 1993
 * Chance, Development, and Aging (review) Human Biology - Volume 73, Number 6, December 2001, pp. 901-902
 * The Biological Case Against Race