My Calendar

CONVERSATIONS AT THE CULVER: HOBBITS AND BIG-BRAINED BABIES


February 2, 2020

Inlandia Institute proudly presents Sang-Hee Lee in conversation about evolution of humans and self-evolution with her best selling book, Close Encounters with Humankind, Sunday, February 2, 1:30 pm at the Culver Center.

When and where did our earliest ancestors first appear? When did we first walk upright? How did we become meat eaters? Are we still evolving? Lee explores our biggest evolutionary questions, and takes us along unexpected paths in our pursuit for answers.

In Lee’s hands, fossil teeth become data that allow us to discover when we began to live long enough to be grandparents.

She questions agriculture’s role in human history by showing an increase in disease and malnutrition after the introduction of farming.

Lee even suggests that social bonding—the key to humanity’s rise—was triggered not by our prized intelligence, but instead by the simple fact that large brains, coupled with narrow birth canals, forced us to seek help from others to successfully give birth.

Her curious nature and surprising conclusions make Close Encounters with Humankind a must-see illuminating delight!

Sang-Hee Lee is an anthropologist, specializing in human evolution. She is Professor in Anthropology and the Associate Dean in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, University of California at Riverside. Lee has been writing for the academia and the general public in various topics of human evolution through newspaper and magazine columns. She wrote a best-selling and award-winning book in Korea with Shin-Young Yoon and translated it into English, Close Encounters with Humankind: A Paleoanthropologist Investigates Our Evolving Species. The book is now in Spanish, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Greek. Portuguese and Russian translations in progress.

“When we look more closely at the human journey, we see not a straight line, but a curvy, winding river.” —Sang-Hee Lee

This event is free and open to the public, followed by light refreshments and book sales. In partnership with UCR Arts and the UCR Center for Ideas and Society.

View full calendar