Nina Jablonski
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Nina Jablonski is an anthropologist who holds the positions of Atherton Professor and Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Emerita. She received her A.B. in Biology at Bryn Mawr College and a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Washington. She has authored over 200 scientific papers and four books for popular audiences, two of which are for children. She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fletcher Fellowship. Jablonski received an honorary doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa in 2010 for her contribution to the worldwide fight against racism, and is committed to advancing public education about the origins of human biological diversity.
She has studied many aspects of the evolution of primates and humans, and who is especially interested in understanding these processes in the context of environmental change through time. She has a distinguished record of field and laboratory research on the evolution of nonhuman primates that has been focused primarily on the evolutionary history and adaptations of Old World monkeys. Her research on human evolution has focused primarily on the evolution of human skin and skin color. Her most important contributions have rested on her research on the evolution of the biological and social significance of “naked” human skin, sweating, touch, and skin color. Jablonski’s research on the evolution of skin pigmentation has revealed why dark skin evolved under conditions of high ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the tropics while lighter skin was favored under conditions of lower UVR nearer the poles. This work led her to write extensively on the fallacy of skin-color-based human races and the harmful effects of racialization on medicine, including the skin sciences, through the persistence of race concepts. Her current research interests bring together many strands of previous research in order to better understand how our evolutionary heritage as primates affects our physical and social wellbeing.
Nina Jablonski joins the Paris IAS in May 2026 for a one-month writing residency.
Research topics
Physical; behavioral and social evolution of humans.
Understanding and mitigating the effects of current behavioral stressors through lessons drawn from human evolution
In our evolutionary past, multiple complementary mechanisms for monitoring, preventing, and mitigating aggressive interactions between individuals. These are readily observable in living nonhuman primate (especially ape) societies and in traditional human societies. Within generally small groups of individuals, close observation and monitoring of the behaviors of others occurs from from birth to death. In such societies, close observation of facial expressions, postures, and gestures is part of a complex process of exchange of in-person nonverbal signals. Language augments this exchange in humans, but much of this process is still nonverbal. Close physical proximity ensures that affective touch between related and unrelated individuals enhances personal bonds. The natural "anti-inflammatory" effects of affective touch are legion and well-documented. The other side of close physical proximity between individuals in a stable social group of long-lived primates is that the potential for physical, psychological, and social retribution is considerable. Many mechanisms of social control deriving from implied or real threats of violence or expulsion exist in nonhuman societies and traditional human societies. When humans interact in mostly anonymous virtual networks, however, most of the methods do not operate. Mechanisms for preventing the manifestation and escalation of anxiety and aggression are greatly attenuated, and mitigation of anxiety and aggression through affective touch is impossible. Similarly, the absence of effective and immediate mechanisms of retribution in response to virtual aggression makes possible the unchecked increase in such aggression. The loss of highly effective evolutionary control systems at all of these levels has profound implications for individual psychosocial development, socialization, and the maintenance of order in society.
Publications clés
Nina G. Jablonski. Living color: The biological and social meaning of skin color (1st ed.). Berkeley, University of California Press, 2012.
Nina G. Jablonski, George Chaplin. "Human skin pigmentation as an adaptation to UV radiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, 107 (Supplement 2), 8962-8968, 2010.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0914628107
Nina G. Jablonski, George Chaplin. "The evolution of human skin coloration". Journal of Human Evolution, 39(1), 57-106, 2000.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0403
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