a history of “scientific” racialism

8/9/2019 A History of “Scientific” Racialism

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A History of “Scientific” RacialismPrepared by Hunn Choi

1) What were your major learnings from the material for that week?

•

Race is essentially a science of physical differences designed to e!plain support and justify racism racial inferiority or racial superiority or racist practices"• Racialism is #an ideology or doctrine a set of beliefs suggesting that $races% e!ist and that

there are significant differences among them"&• 'ifferent types of racism(

a" deological racism assumes a link between a biological race characteristics andcultural beha*ior"

b" +cientific racism• Wow ethnocentricism has e!isted from ,-- ."C"/"• +cientific racism is traced back to the 10 th century"

a" Homo sapiens( white red yellow and black races b" .eha*ior characteristics were associated with each race"

• ohann .luemenback a" Caucasoid 2ongoloid 2alayan 3merican 4red) and 5egroid"

b" 'egeneration from the Caucasoid%s perfection"• 16 th century was the period of crystalli7ation of a core of racist ideas that persisted into

the 8- th century"a" Charles 'arwin

b" /uropean ethnocentric superiorityc" 2easurements lead to knowledge9 races were biological realitiesd" +pencer and social 'arwinism( the superior biological races triumph o*er the inferior e" /uropean colonialism was justified by scientific racism"f" +amuel :" 2orton( cranial *olume determines hierarchy9 C;2;5"g" Polygenesis( races had separate origins and some were created inferior"h" Races were une<ual"i" 3ll human achie*ements were the work of the 3ryan super race who created the

ci*ili7ations of the Hindus /gyptians 3ssyrians and /uropeans" j" 3dolf Hitler( race purification to eliminate non=3ryans"

• Racialisma" Cultures were thought to be as stages of e*olution

b" Racialism can also be traced to the attempt to justify /uropean coloni7ation the riseof /uropean capitalism and the sla*e trade"

c" 2onegenism( degeneration from the original creationd" 'arwin%s natural selection in relation to e*olutione" Polygenism=an influential theory through the early part of the 8- th centuryf" .ased on polygenism and race hierarchy > tests were de*eloped

• /ugenics and +cientific Racialisma" /ugenics was used to designate the science of impro*ing the human species"

b" Hereditary social traits( pauperism manic depression scholastic abilityfeeblemindedness epilepsy and criminality attributed to the poor blacks and



immigrants"c" Races nations classes and the male gender ha*ing more wealth power and status

were seen a product of e*olutiond" +ocial welfare defies laws of nature and enables the unfit to multiply"e" /R ( Restricted immigration from southern and eastern /urope including Catholics

and ews because they were thought to be biological inferior and prone to criminal beha*ior"f" +terili7ation of the unfit was urgedg" /ugenics@international mo*ement9 the history of racism is note confined to any one

nation"• Racial ine<ualities in intelligence were *iewed as innate"• Ahe B+ 'eclaration of ndependence and the B+ Constitution( /<uality of 2an but

populations such as 3frican sla*es and 5ati*e 3merican ndians were e!cluded"• ntelligence and temperament are racially determined and unalterable"• 3 reformed *iew of race( races differed only in minor respects"• 3 Re*olution in +cience

a" Changes in head shape weakened both the concept of the fi!ity of race and theimplication that mental ability was racially determined"

b" Ahe idea of culture was populari7ed and pro*ided a non=racial and non=raciste!planation of human society but a sociocultural rather than a biologicalinterpretation"

c" Bntil about 16,- consistent in *iew about the reality of race and the inferiority of blacks"

d" redrick 'ouglas in 10D,( 3natomical and cranial similarities of blacks and whitesoutweighed the differences9 5egro was entitled to full membership in the humanspecies"

e" W"/"." 'ubois( Ahe color line was the essential problem of the 8- th century" Ahecause( not biology but the heritage of sla*ery

f" tto Elineberg in support of en*ironmental influences@rising > scores among 5egro children who mo*ed from southern to northern schools"

g" Ahe rise of antiracialism@the influence of social and cultural conditions"h" 3gainst 5a7i :ermany 3merican proclaimed itself non=racialist"i" 3shley 2ontagu( the race concept was in*alid and was tied to racialism and racism"

j" n 6,8 the need to combat racialism rose in B+ and :reat .ritain"k" 16D, B+ +upreme Court( +eparate but e<ual"l" n the 16D-s was the beginning of the end of scientific racism as the majority belief"m" #5o definite e*idence that there e!ist inborn difference between human groups"

• Ahree Peaks of >a" > test scores were used to demonstrate racial inferiority"

b" mmigrants /<ual Rights and Welfare"c" +kull si7es mental testingd" Ahe second( Re*i*al of scientific racialisme" Ahe third( > tests measure scholastic learning not a hereditary essence in the brain"f" 3gainst biological determinism9 the power of the en*ironment"g" /n*ironmental and educational factors are much more important than heredity in

determining intelligence"



h" /n*ironment is not a minor factor influencing > but a major factor enhancing thechances for success" > is not a fi!ed or hereditary entity"

i" Remedial social programs are not unproducti*e"• Philip Rushton( 2;C;5 due to economic prosperity9 en*ironmental influence on a gene=

based theory9 races are a combination of geographic educational and morphological

factors and gene fre<uencies of biochemical components9 three major races but otherminor races within them

8) What are key <uestions you ha*e that come out of the reading4s) that you would like others toaddress in their responses on the FC? 4Ary to come up with at least 8 or G)"

• #Ahe major conse<uence of 4any) racial hierarchies is to justify discrimination againstthose on the bottom" Ahe further conse<uence is 4any) bio=determinism can be taken by

policymakers to justify worldwide benign neglect of those li*ing in po*erty including inone in fi*e of 3merican children& 4p" 80)" 'o you know some current e!amples of these?

• What do you all think about #model minority?& s model minority an accurate description

of educationally e!celling 3sian 3mericans?• t took awhile to mo*e from $+ocial welfare defies laws of nature& to #Remedial social

programs are not unproducti*e"& et do you think it is better to ha*e racially 4orculturally) sensiti*e remedial social programs than uni*ersally enforced programsI?

G) What are some of the mission implications of the material?

• 2ission needs to be conte!tual" 3ccurate understanding of the social cultural racialethnic issues of a people to whom mission is to be carried out is e!tremely important"/specially raciali7ed or ethno=centric baggages must be thoroghly e!amined"

• #Ahe differences among human populations and societies are best e!plained by

e!amination of their different ecology geography demography and contacts with othersocieties@in short their different cultural histories"& Ahis makes mission comple! andchallenging"

Wilmer

Ahis chapter traces the de*elopment of important terminology within the concept of race" foundthis chapter both interesting and difficult to swallow especially when you ha*e been on the$wrong side% of the definitions and many of the proposal that are being discussed" urthermorehis historical analysis though concise gi*e us not only the non=Christian perspecti*e but alsothe Christian thought of how some theologians answer such <uestions of race and differences"

Ahe following are some of the <uestions that jotted as was reading the chapter do not need toanswer them all just pick the one that you belie*e is the most interesting or that connects to your own reading of the chapter"

2issiological implications(



or years many *oices within the scientific world where jumping 4for lack of a better word) intoconclusion about human societies which were founded upon $misleading% or $inconclusi*e data%"Bnfortunately they maintained the humiliation of certain people groups" We take the same riskswhen indi*idual Christians or Churches do not take time to fully grasp or to study the intricaciesof cross=cultural ministries and depend on data that had been produced by others and handed

down to us"

1" Ha*e been aware how much of folk racialism is present in yJour churches? s it pureignorance or not?

8" .oas and his followers underscored the importance of calling for a sociocultural ratherthan a biological interpretation of humanity 4p" 16) 'o you understand that the majorityof the 3merican society has shifted from a biological interpretation to a social one?

G" What to other missiological issues are found in this chapter?

a history of “scientific” racialism

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