Lecture12: History of Race, Historical Perspectives on Human Variation and Race

European Colonialism & Human Variation (1600)

  • Ethnocentrism:

    • Belief that one’s own culture is superior to others and assesses other cultures by one’s own standards

Competing Ideas in the 1700s

  1. Ancient and Permanent:

    • Belief in divinely ordained variation (e.g., Great Chain of Being)

  2. Natural Causes:

    • Variations result from natural processes

Natural Causes of Variation

  • Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778):

    • Classified humans in his system:

      • Homo Sapiens

      • Varieties: American, European, Asian, African

    • Reflects variation changes linked to temperature, climate, and geography

Early Writings on Race

  • Immanuel Kant (1724-1804):

    • Contributions to philosophy; anthropological categorization based on skin color and texture

    • Proposed fixed categories aligned with behavioral traits, promoting notions of superiority among groups

  • Founder of Physical Anthropology (1752-1840): Johann Friedrich Blumenbach

    • Identified 5 racial categories: Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, Malay

    • Suggested differences in appearance stem from environmental factors; posited a common ancestor

Scientific Racism

  • Rigid classifications tied behavioral characteristics to inequality

  • Scientific Racism:

    • Assumes racial categories are natural and seeks to explore differences

  • Human variation descriptions utilized to justify slavery in the 1700s and 1800s

Polygenism vs. Monogenism

  • Late 1700s - Early 1800s:

    • Ussher and Lightfoot's biblical calculation of Earth's creation questioned emergence of races in 6,000 years.

    • Polygenism:

      • Claims races are separate species descended from distinct origins

  • Monogenism:

    • All races stem from a single origin with traits evolving due to environmental factors

    • Charles Darwin: supports this perspective, advocating for an older Earth

Typology in Racism

  • Typology:

    • Late 1800s-early 1900s method reducing variation into smaller categories

    • Relies on the concept of 'ideal types' per group

  • Problems identifying ideal types, ignoring the inherent variation

Earnest Hooton: Notable physical anthropologist; championed concept of "pure" unmixed races with homogenous traits

Anthropometric Traits

  • Various traits used for racial group distinctions:

    • Anthropometrics: Measuring physical human traits

      • Cranial Index formula: Cranial Index = (Max. breadth of skull) x 100 / (Max. length of skull)

        • Noted disconnect between cranial index and intelligence

      • Racial groups cannot be delineated tthroguh anthropormetric measures due to envirometal influences

    • Difficulties in defining races arise from:

      • Influence of environment

      • Independent inheritance

      • Principle of discordance

Eugenics Movement

  • Emerged late 1800s to enhance human species and preserve racial purity through breeding

  • US Immigration Commission proposal in 1908 to investigate effects of immigrant amalgamation

Franz Boas (1858-1942):

  • Key figure in anthropology, advocating against racial classifications

Page 25: Clinal Distribution

  • Cline/Clinal Distribution:

    • Mapping changes in allele or phenotype frequencies geographically

  • Shift to genetics for defining races attempted but failed to reveal clear patterns in gene distribution

Tuskegee Study Overview

  • Initiated by US Public Health Service in 1932 targeting syphilis study among African American men

    • Enrolled 600 African American male sharecroppers in Alabama; 399 with syphilis

  • Participants misled as they were told they were being treated for "bad blood"; no treatment was provided post-1940s

  • 1972: Study ceased by Department of Health Education and Welfare; legislation followed mandating Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

Current Understanding of Race

  • Mid-1900s voices in science called for reassessment of racial classifications due to limiting potential understanding of human variation

    • Key figures included Ashley Montagu & Frank Livingston

  • Racial definitions challenged; greater genetic variance within groups than between regions

  • Race viewed as socially constructed, not biologically determined