ANT100Y1 Chapter 4: CHAPTER 4
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The first scientific attempt to describe variation among human populations was linnaeus" taxonomic classification, which placed humans into four separate categories. He assigned behavioral and intellectual qualities to each group, which the poorest descriptions going to sub saharan, dark-skinned africans. This ranking reflected the eurpoean ethnocentric view that europeans were superior to everyone else. The four groups were: americanus (indians) , asiaticus (asians) , africanus (africans), and europeaeus (europeans) Johann friedrich blumenbach (1752-1840), a german anatomist, classified humans into five races, often simply described as white, yellow, red, black, and brown. He also used measurements such as the size and shape of the head to categorize human beings. Biological determinism is the concept that phenomena, including various aspects of behavior ( e. g. intelligence, values, morals) are governed by biological (genetic) factors ; the inaccurate association of various behavioral attributes with certain biological traits, such as skin color.
