AMST 20100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Scientific Racism, Essentialism, Eugenics
Document Summary
One of the first african americans to receive a ph. d. 1903: the problem of the color line will be the problem of twentieth century . We are still dealing with questions of race in 2017. The meanings of race have changed over time. 100 years ago: we would learn about race in a filtered way; one-sided; fewer viewpoints. Anthropometry: the scientific study of the measurements and proportions of the human body. We would have said that race lied in the body. Ex. brain size (we would use this to make arguments about social differences) People would have argued 100 years ago that the more flat the angle of a person"s face, the more highly evolved they were (darwinism) Biological determinism: the idea that biology is destiny and that complex characteristics are dictated by our genetic code. Extinction thesis: the argument that some races were doomed to extinction because of their intrinsic biological inferiority.
