Syllabus for Science and the Origins of Race (SS.490), Fall 2014

 
Syllabus for Science and the Origins of Race (SS.490), Fall 2014

 

  

Science and the Origins of Race

School of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies

Course number/section: SS.435

Credits: 3

Day & Time: Thursday, 2:00pm – 4:50pm

Meeting Place: North Hall 114

B. Ricardo Brown, Ph. D.

Professor of Social Science and Cultural Studies

Office Location: Dekalb 419

Office Hours: Tuesday 12:30 -1:50pm

Office Phone number: 1.718.636.3600 ext. 2709

Appropriate times to call: 12:30-1:50pm or by appointment

Email: BBRow993@pratt.du

URL: http://node801.org

Course blog: http://until-darwin.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UntilDarwin/

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Bulletin Description:

We often understand race as it confronts us today: as a source of diversity and multiculturalism or as a source of social problems and conflicts.  This is not surprising given that for many people racism is a social fact of everyday life.  However, racism presupposes the existence of Race, of something so essential to us that it orders social life, is visibly manifested by our bodies, and that these societies and human beings  are fixed in their differences.  Race began as a scientific concept within Natural History, but one with far reaching connections to nationalism, sexuality, industrialism, slavery, and authority.  This class will investigate the many scientific discourses on race through the debates on the origin of species, whether races represent different species of humans (the monogenesis/polygenesis dispute in Antebellum America), phrenology, criminal anthropology, eugenics, and degeneration.  Throughout the semester, you will be prompted to apply what we are learning to a discussion of contemporary society.

Long Description

The Sociology of Science and the Origins of Race

We often try to understand race as it confronts us today, either as a source of diversity and multiculturalism or as a social problem. This is not surprising given the fact that racism is a historical production and so today we still exist amidst its' vast accumulation. But racism presupposes the existence of Race, of something so essential to us that it is visibly manifested by our bodies, and these manifestations fall into a limited number of scientifically defined types. Race began as a scientific concept within the discourse of Natural History, but with far reaching connections to nationalism, sexuality, industrialism, and authoritarianism. To place our contemporary discussion of human variety into a historical context, this class will investigate the history of scientific discourses on race from Blumenbach’s classification of humanity into the five familiar races, to Gobineau’s Essay of the Inequality of Human Races, the Social Darwinists, and Thomas Dugdale’s The Jukes, a classic study of degeneration in fin de sciel upstate New York. Along the way, we will examine the debate on the origin of species, whether races represent different species of humans (the monogenesis/polygenesis dispute in Antebellum America), phrenology, intelligence testing, criminal anthropology, the culture of poverty, and degeneration. Throughout the semester, we will apply what we are learning to the discussion of contemporary ideas and conflicts regarding race and racism.

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Course Goals

This course will:

A. introduce and familiarize students with the history of scientific theories regarding the source of human variety, the most prominent one being that of Race.

B. provide students an social and intellectual context for understanding the development of racial theories and their far-reaching implications in many branches of knowledge

C. expose students to the range of interpretations of the meaning of race in the sociology and history of science.

D. deepen students understanding of the continuities and discontinuities of the sciences of life and society.

E. present students with the means to understand how science relates to power and how power relates to social conflicts and social problems.

Student Learning Outcomes

At the end of this semester, students will:

A. demonstrate a knowledge of the the history of attempts by naturalists and scientists to understand and give meaning to race as a means to understand variation in humans and, ultimately, nature itself.

B. recognize and contrast important persons and concepts in Natural History, Biology, and the social sciences.

B. understand and critique the sources of some of our most fundamental social and political questions regarding race and society.

C. interpret and analyze contemporary “racial” disputes and the politics of genetics in the context of their knowledge of the history of scientific theories of race.

D. identify how the disputes over the scientific meaning of race infused many key concepts in the social sciences.

E. demonstrate an ability to analyze and interpret concepts and events in the history of sociology, psychology, Natural History, and biology.

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Course Requirements

Short Reading Responses:

Three short reading responses are required. The due dates are indicated in the course schedule. These responses are 5 or should you choose, more pages (about 1200-1500 words). Each response will consist of the following:

1. Discussion of the author’s mode of argumentation. Does it vary between texts or is it consistent? How would you characterize the way in which the author argues? Who do you think is the audience for the text?
2. A general outline of the arguments and a brief discussion of the important concepts that you found in the readings. Discuss any aspects of the texts that might have changed your way of thinking about the author/works.
3. What you see as the relation between this author/texts and those of the others we are reading this semester?

Remember, keep in mind as you read:

1. The author’s style of arguing and how he constructs his argument.

2. How he describes and defends key elements of his theory.

3. How, if called upon, you might characterize his style of argument and writing?

Self-Evaluation

At the end of the course you may submit a 1-2 page statement evaluating your own performance and your assessment of what you believe to be a fair final grade. The self-evaluation may account for as much as 5% of your final grade

Class Participation

Education is not a one way street and we can not expect to simply passively receive knowledge unless we expect to live a passive life. All students should come to class prepared to discuss the reading to the best of their ability. Class participation will account for 5% of your final grade.

Absences and Lateness

Persistent absences or lateness will result in a reduction of your final grade by as much as 10%.

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Readings

The readings for the class will be drawn from a wide variety of sources. The primary texts that you will want to purchase for this course are:

Gossett, Thomas. 1997 [1963]. Race: the History of an Idea in America. Oxford University Press, 2nd edition. ISBN: 0195097785

Gould, Stephen Jay. 1996. The Mismeasure of Man. 2^nd Revised Edition. New York, W. W. Norton. ISBN: 0393314251

Appleman, Philip, ed. 1979. Darwin: A Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 3rd edition. ISBN: 0393958493

It is suggested that you also purchase or obtain through the library:

Brown, B. Ricardo. 2010. Until Darwin: Science, Human Variety, and the Origins of Race. London: Pickering and Chatto.

George Canguilhem. 1988 [1977]. Ideology and Rationality in the History of the Life Sciences. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN-13: 978-0262031370

Mosse, George L. 1985. Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism. New York: Howard Fertig. ISBN: 0865274282

Max Nordau. 1993 [1892]. Degeneration. With Introduction by George L. Mosse. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Wailoo, Keith, Alondra Nelson, and Catherine Lee. 2012. Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision of DNA, Race, and History. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Suggested sources for purchasing the readings:

Book Culture http://

The Advanced Book Exchange http://www.abebooks.com

Barnes and Nobles http://www.bn.com

Amazon http://www.amazon.com

St. Marks Bookstop http://www.stmarksbookshop.com

The Strand second-hand store on 12^th street http://www.strandbooks.com

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Outline of the Course of Study

Week I. Introduction to the Course

Week II. Race before Enlightenment: Natural History, Human Variety, and the Classification of Nature

Thomas Gossett. “Early Race Theories” in Race: the History of an Idea in America, pp.3-17.

Week III. The Question of the Origin of Species & the “Regular Gradation in Man”

Gavin De Beer. “Biology before Darwin” in Appleman, pp. 3-10.

Charles Darwin. “An Historical Sketch of the Progress of Opinion on The Origin of Species, Previously to the Publication of This Work” in Appleman, pp. 19-27.

Stephen J. Gould.”Age-old fallacies of thinking and stinking,” from The Mismeasure of Man, pp. 391-399.

Stephen J. Gould. “Racial geometry,” and “The moral state of Tahiti – and of Darwin,” from The Mismeasure of Man, pp. 401-412.

Week IV. The Question Concerning the Origin of Species: The American School Monogenesis vs. Polygenesis FIRST READING RESPONSE DUE

Stephen J. Gould. “American Polygeny and Craniometry before Darwin” from The Mismeasure of Man, pp. 62-104.

B. Ricardo Brown. “Polygenesis and the Types of Mankind” from Until Darwin, pp. 59-98.

Week V. The Origin Of Species and The Descent of Man

Charles Darwin. “Recapitulation and Conclusions” from The Origin of Species, and selections from The Dissent of Man in Appleman, pp. 43-88, 108-131, 187-210.

Week VI. The Sciences of Life and Man

Thomas Gossett. “Race and Social Darwinism” from Race: the History of an Idea in America, pp. 144-175.

Week VII. Degeneracy

Max Nordau. “The fin de sciel” in Degeneration, pp. 1-40.

Degenerate Art (Documentary film in class)

Week VIII. Criminal Anthropology

SECOND READING RESPONSE DUE

Stephen J. Gould. “Measuring Bodies: Two Case Studies on the Apishness of Undesirables” from The Mismeasure of Man, pp. 141-175.

Week IX.

Thomas Gossett. “Nineteenth Century Anthropology” from Race: the History of an Idea in America, pp.54-83.

The Anthropologist (Documentary Film in class)

Week X.

Thomas Gossett. “Teutonic Origins Theory,” and “Study of Language and Literature,” from Race, the History of an Idea, pp. 84-143.

Michael Wood. Hitler’s Search for the Holy Grail (Documentary film in class)

Week XI.

Lundy Braun and Evelynn Hammonds. “The Dilemma of Classification: The Past in the Present” in Wailoo, Nelson, and Lee, Genetics and the Unsettled Past, pp.67-80.

The First Americans? (Documentary Film in class)

Week XII. The Germ-Plasm and Racial Destiny

George Canguilhem. 1988 [1977]. “On the History of the Life Sciences Since Darwin” from Ideology and Rationality in the History of the Life Sciences, pp. 103-124.

Week XIII. Eugenics

Daniel J. Kevles. 1995. In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity, pp. 3-20, 70-112, 129-148.

Peter A. Chow-White. “The Informationalization of Race: Communication, Databases, and the Digital Coding of the Genome” in in Wailoo, Nelson, and Lee, Genetics and the Unsettled Past, pp. 81-103.

Final Essay Question Distributed

Week XIV. The Floating Signifier

Stuart Hall. Race, the Floating Signifier. Video of lecture.

Week XV. Review and Discussion: What have we learned so far?

FINAL READING RESPONSE DUE

On the Genealogy of “Slave” --- Leverett (1844) and Partridge (1966)

A bearded slave carries his master's shield and helm, 380–370 BC.

On the Genealogy of “Slave” --- Leverett (1844) and Partridge (1966)

While working on a chapter Classical views of human variety that unfortunately did not appear in the final version of Until Darwin, there arose the need to look into the origin of the word “slave.” A colleague had mentioned being told that the word meant a “protector, preserver or guard” who could be trusted to watch over the property of the master. I was not sure about this and so found that slave is derived from Slav, while servant or servitude is derived from servus. The Slavs happened to have been enslaved by the Romans, but were not, one could say, “slavish.” Note below that Partridge mentions regarding “The OSI Slovene, a slave, lit ‘the speaker’ hence ‘intelligent person’ derives from the OSI slovo, a word opp[osed] to the Germans, who were called ‘the mutes.’”

Varro, who remains a source despite his limitations, uses servos in the context of three buyers of slaves in Ephesus: “Sic tres cum emerunr Ephesi singulos servos...” De Lingua Latina, VIII. 21.

Consider this comment by Ferdinand de Saussure from his Course in General Linguistics [1906-1911] (Chicago: Open Court Classics, 1983, pg 233.) 

 

But it is doubtful whether information of this kind [i.e., on “the nature of the common ethnicity” that is inferred from the “community of language”] can be sought from the evidence provided by language, for the following reasons.

The first is the uncertainty of etymologies. Only gradually has it become apparent how few are the words whose origins can be considered definitively known. We are now much more cautious than formerly. An example of the temerity of the eariler days is the following. Latin servus (‘slave’) and suvare (‘keep, guard’) were – perhaps unjustifiably – assumed to be connected, and from this it was inferred that the slave was originally someone who kept guard over the house. In fact it is not even clear that suvare originally meant that. 

 

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A] servio (servus, is, ivi, and i itum, n.) to be a slave, serve in the capacity of a servant or slave... Also of things, as houses, fields, etc. to be subject to certain servitudes, or to be the subject to any one in some respects. Also figuratively to serve for anything, to be serviceable or fit for anything, to be used for anything. Also to serve, show kindness, do a favor, be obliging, please, humor, gratify. Also to be at one's service.... Also to pay attention to, have regard to, take care of anything, bestow pains upon, aim at... Also to conform or accommodate one's self to

B] Servitium --- slavery, servitude, bondage, serviceable

servus, or servos serving, ministering, bound to service, slavish, servile.... servus potenstatis subject to your power --- Also of house or lands, subject to certain servitudes, liable to certain burdens, or duties, of base tenure.

Leverett, F.P. 1844. A new and copious Lexicon of the Latin Language compiled chiefly from the Magnum Totius Latinitatis Lexicon of Facciolati and Forcellini and the German works of Scheller and Lueneman. Boston: J.H. Wilkins and R.B. Carter.

A water color by Jean Baptiste Debret - www.slaveryimages.org

Slave (n, hence v with cpd enslave, whence enslavement) whence the agent slaver, slavery, slavish; Slave Slavic – Slavonia, whence Slavonian (adg, hence n) and Slovonic --- Slovak (cf Czechoslovakian) and Slovene (n ,hence adj.)

1] Both slave and Slave occur in ME as Sclane, sclave, and sclavne, Sclave, both from ML sclavus, Sclavus, that of “slave” arose as mainly from the fact that 'during the eastward expansion of the Germans in the Middle Ages the Slav populations were enslaved or destroyed' (M. O'C. Walshe. 1952. A Concise German Etymological Dictionary, who aptly cfs, sem, the OE wealh a Celt, a slave: see Welsh) and much less, from the raids made by the Venetians upon Slovonia during the Crusades (O. Bloch and W. von Wartburg. 1950) Dictionaire etymological de la langue francaise, 2^nd edition). Cf MF-F esclave, and Slave, and late MHG slave and, as in G. sklave, a slave.

The OSI Slovene, a slave, lit 'the speaker' hence 'intelligent person' derives from the OSI slovo, a word opp to the Germans, who were called 'the mutes.'

OE wealh a stranger or foreigner (not of Saxon origin; from the land of the Wealas—Celts, Britons, hence Wales and Welsh...

Servant

Serve

1) Behind all of these words stand Latin servus, ML servus, slave, adj hence n, and its derivative serutre, ML servire, to be a slave, (ut) to be a slave to, hence to serve. The Latin s and r seruu (ML serv---) answers to the IE r *Swer--- which like *uer- (wer-), is a var of the IE *swer--, to be in the service of, perhaps to guard, but the often alleged kinship between the Latin servus, a slave and seruare, ML servare, to guard, to preserve, is far from being proved.

.....

5) seruus, ML servus, becomes OF-F serf, slave, hence, feudally, a bonded servant, adopted by E, as in the OF-F deriviative servage, usually anglicized as serfage.

Partridge, Eric. 1966. Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. New York: Macmillan Company.