ARCH 131 Lecture Notes - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Human Variability, Carl Linnaeus
27 May 2014
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Document Summary
Before we examine current understandings of modern human variability, we are going to briefly examine some of the history of how scientists and the public have viewed this variability in the past. There is no question that throughout our history, humans have spent a lot of time concentrating, sometimes with an unhealthy preoccupation we might say, on the visible differences between people from different regions. This preoccupation has resulted in significant misconceptions and strife over the centuries, but there is no question that understanding the nature of human variability is an important scientific pursuit. Probably the most common or popular view is that modern humans can be divided up into different races that represent distinct and discrete groups. However, what is meant by the term race" and what is implied by its use has changed along with changes in social norms, social mores, and social theory over the years.
