Material Covered Before the Scientific Racism Flashcards
Anthropology
the study of humans, it’s a holistic discipline (meaning it studies all aspects of humanity in relation to each other)
Biological Anthropology
the study of humans as biological organisms, it studies where humans originated from, origins of natural selection, and the biological concept of race
Cultural Anthropology
the study of variations in the beliefs and behaviours of different human groups, how they learned and acquired as members of society
Early Anthropological Theories were based on?
based on the theory of natural selection, but often confused the idea of “evolution” with that of “progress”
Lewis Henry Morgan
he proposed an unilateral evolution held that all humans go through a similar sequence of development, a form of Cultural Determinism.
- and order was created that ranked cultures from lower savagery, to barbarianism, to civilization due to their technological innovations
- this classification was ethnocentric, as it implied that only a culture that has a writing system is civilized
Franz Boas’s Historical Particularism
(arguing against the Henry Morgans classification)
he argued that each culture is the unique product of all the influences that it was subjected to in the past, which made cross-cultural generalizations very suspect.
- Boas argued that we have to look at the past to evaluate the culture
- The idea of cultural relativism grew, which mean that a society should be understood in terms of its own cultural practices
Racism as Colonialism
by 1890, 90% of Africa was under the control of foreign powers, most predominantly Europe, also in 1890 all of the Americas were under the control of European powers or the US.
Racism as Warfare
WWI & WWII killed over 60 million, ethnic cleansing is defined as removing a cultural group from a particular region, the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980’s killed 1 million, Gulf War killed 1 million
Racism as Civil Rights
Apartheid in S.Africa led to repression, segregation, murder, and a loss of human rights for the black majority, civil rights movement in N.America continues today, Caste System in India basic civil rights to approx 200 million ppl
Racism as Statelessness
the United Nations estimates that there are approx 15 million people affected worldwide, it occurs in both rich and poor countries.
Colonization
where resources are taken and civil rights revoked (or not granted) to inhabitants
Economic Imperialism
is the a nation-state can control resources in another country
Xenophobia
the fear of strangers and other people, especially the strangeness of their culture or actions
Oppression
both real and perceived
Fear of Change
related to xenophobia, it is sometimes linked with immigrants, they are often used to scape problems or issues, government may use this to transform them into “they enemy.”
Social and Economic
those who are in power will try to maintain their power, this was common in the 1800’s and a modern example is Mubarak in Egypt, the common understand was that the poor were fundamentally unable to govern themselves. Therefore, a group of elite was essential within society.
The two main questions that arose when asked by Greek Philosophers were:
how and why are humans different.
Herodotus (484-425 BC)
explained differences among humans as a result of natural forces, as oppose to supernatural forces. He believe that the environment was responsible for the differences in behaviour and physical characteristics.
Aristotle (348-322 BC)
believe that every was originally created in the desired by the creator and that the nature of things could not change.
- he was a teleologist (ID), believed in a natural hierarchy of organisms — a theory later called “The Great Chain of Being” (Euros had both +/- traits like Asians, Greeks were in the middle), the Christian Church adopted his position (that a Creator made the world ideal) and for 1000 years, speculation about evolution was taboo
In the 15th Century, attempts at trying to explain differences moved from religious towards
on that challenged accepted beliefs. There were two main categories of belief regarding the origin of humans…
There were two main categories of belief regarding the origin of humans…
Monogenists and Polygenists
Monogenists
believed in a single origin of all humans with Adam and Eve as the original pair.
Polygenists
believed that human groups had different origins & were the result of a different Creator
early attempts to explain the vast diversity of life forms could not escape
the notion of fixity of species: the belief that once created, a species could not change
The Bible
Degeneration
likely based on the Bible, as Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Once this happened, populations increased and spread away farther from the Garden of Eden. As a result, these groups revered to sub-human forms.
Buffon’s description of Native American’s was based on…
he ones who had been captured as slaves or on the fact that most of them has relatively few children. He concluded that their “reproductive organ” must have degenerated
Francois Bernier
believed that he was the first author to categorize races based on physical characteristic — he found that there are four or five races of man — however, doesn’t make a clear distinction between humans and races.
Francois Bernier: the five races
the five races: Whites, Blacks, Asians, Browns, and Northern European natives
his writings are not scientific, but describe the individual races (especially women)
Francois Bernier is important because…?
because he first categorized races based on physical appearance
Carl Linnaeus
devised the binomial nomenclature system (the devising or choosing of names for things) for all living organisms. His organization classified humans with primates, this caused conflict as humans were widely thought of as superior.
Carl Linnaeus: Four Types included in his organization were
the Americanus, Africanus, Europeanus, Asiaticus
Carl Linnaeus: never mentions what in his book?
He never mentions races in his book — this posed a question for ppl, as race is never defined
Immanuel Kant
his essay was written to combat polygenesis & defend the concept of race as valid. He separates/ distinguishes race from species + says that humans are all the same species, but there are subspecies to divide them.
Immanuel Kant: Important because?
Important: as he is the first to rigorously describe the scientific definition of race
Immanuel Kant: his writing argues…
argues that the first humans contained the seeds of all 4 races — the seed was actualized based on environmental conditions
Immanuel Kant: the description of his races
1st Race: Noble Blonde from humid cold,
2nd Race: Copper Red from dry cold,
3rd Race: Black from humid heat,
4th Race: Olive Yellow from dry heat
Johann Gottfried von Herder
once a student of Kant, but argues against the usefulness of the concept of race since he saw many grey areas when it came to skin colour; the colours appear to run into each other
- because of this, Herder felt that “race” was not overly useful for classification
Johann Friedrich Blumenback
includes all humans in the same species & does not use the term race. Instead, he recognized five principle varieties of mankind and the arbitrary nature of the categories of race, but believes that some were more “natural”
Johann Friedrich Blumenback: important because
he organized his categories to reinforce the idea of population degeneration through his connotations
G.W.F Hegel
rejected the usefulness of race to prove superiority of races over others, instead he divided mankind into cultures, arguing that it is a more useful way to divide humans.
G.W.F Hegel dividing mankind into cultures resulted in…?
resulted in the number of races raising from 4 or 5 to upwards of 80 (argued that Caucasians are civilization builders and other races play a small role in history)
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Arthur de Gobineau
he perpetuated the idealized view of Europeans by arguing that every single human race has degenerated, expect Europeans. He believed that races are maintained by the law of repulsion expect Euros who had a law of attraction
