ANT203Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Sub-Saharan Africa, Intelligence Quotient
Document Summary
Human variation: the concept of race, contemporary interpretations of human variation. Skin colour, e. g. egyptians: 1350 bc, classifying humans base on skin colour, hieroglyph depictions of yellow (east), white (north), and black (sub-saharan africa) people. Linnaeus: placed humans in four separate categories based on skin colour with behavioural and psychological traits linked to them, worst traits linked to group including sub-saharan africans. Johann friedrich blumenbach: classified humans into five different races, looked at skin colour as well but emphasized different traits as well, categories merely based on skin colour were too arbitrary for him. Religious leaning also played a role in classifications; non-christian europeans were thought to be inferior as well. Biological determinism: cultural variations thought to be inherited, behaviour thought to be determined/governed by biology. Eugenics: francis bolton thought inferior groups need to be eliminated, the idea of racial purification by forcibly exterminating inferior groups while encouraging reproduction/offspring among superior groups.
