ANT2000 10/4/16Historical Perspectives on Human ClassificationANT2000 10/4/16Historical Perspectives on Human Classification- Early Perspectiveso Classical Antiquity Physical differences mostly attributed to the environmento Middle Ages  Classical view melded with Biblical story of Noah and the Great Floodo 17th Century  François Bernier-first comprehensive attempt to classify all peoples into a few discrete categories (1684)- Humans in Linnaean Taxonomyo Carl Linnaeus included humans in his taxonomy of animals in the order Primatao Humans classified as Homo sapiens and subdivided in to 4 geographic subspecies Subspecies=a population of a particular region that is genetically distinguishable from other such populations of the same species (but capable of successfully interbreeding)o Linnaeus’s Four Human Subspecies American (natives of the Americas)- Ruled by habit- Red, ill-tempered, subjugated, obstinate European- Ruled by laws- White, serious, strong, active, smart, inventive African- Ruled by caprice- Black, impassive, lazy, crafty, slow, foolish Asian- Ruled, by opinion- Yellow, stiff, melancholy, greedy, severe, haughtyo 18th-19th Century-Two Primary Perspectives Monogenism w- Traced all humans to a single, divine source- Accounted for diversity through “degeneration”- Blumenbach Polygenism- Held that races were separate biological species, the descendants of different progenitors - Agassizo Polygenists at Work Efforts to quantify morphological differences among presumed “species” of humans centered on analysis of skulls The practice of craniotomy revealed a disturbing racial biasin the ways data were developedo Samuel Morton “Father of physical anthropology” Convinced of inferiority of Africans (and just about everyone else) Measured skulls by filling with mustard seed or lead pellets Developed tripartite racial classification based on measurements Influenced the racist thinking of both academics and the publico Scientific Racism in the 20th Century Shift from metric/morphological definitions of race to genetic ones Miscegenation studies- The mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, or procreation2- Charles Davenport Intelligence Testing- The Bell Curve(1994)o Social Applications of Scientific Racism Native American removal, genocide Slavery Segregation Eugenics- Popular early 20th century social philosophy advocating for the improvement of the human race by careful selection of thoseo Franz Boas “Father of American Anthropology” Argued against inherently racist elements of social evolutionary models  Measured heads of immigrants and their children to show how “racial” characteristics change in response to environmento Ashley Montagu In Mans Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (1942) called biological race a “social myth”o Stephan Jay Gould (1941-2002) The Mismeasure of Man (1981, 1996)- Gould’s devastating refutation of biological determinism, “the idea that social and economic differences between human groups-primarily races, classes, and sexes-arise from (biologically) inherited, inborn distinctions On Craniotomy- Morton manipulatedo Questioning Race Study of human variation always goes beyond mere biology3 Problems arise when biological differences are reified and conflated with cultural, social, environmental ones Despite discipline’s racist past, contemporary anthropologists question reality of biological