“What is the role and purpose of Anthropology today? Wade Davis looks back at the pioneering work of Franz Boas in the early 20th century that upended long-held Western assumptions on race & gender, along with definitions of ‘social progress.’ Boas and his students used comparative ethnography to advance ‘cultural relativism’– the idea that every culture is as ‘correct’ as every other culture. Boas showed that our differences can be completely explained by social conditioning, not inherent genetic makeup, upending a deep history of scientific racism.”

Livestream begins at 5:00 pm on June 29, 2021.