Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in the Twentieth Century
Michael Yudell
Abstract
Race, while drawn from the visual cues of human diversity, is an idea with a measurable past, an identifiable present, and an uncertain future. The concept of race has been at the center of both triumphs and tragedies in American history and has had a profound effect on the human experience. This book revisits the origins of commonly held beliefs about the scientific nature of racial differences, examines the roots of the modern idea of race, and explains why race continues to generate controversy as a tool of classification even in our genomic age. Surveying the work of some of the twentieth ... More
Race, while drawn from the visual cues of human diversity, is an idea with a measurable past, an identifiable present, and an uncertain future. The concept of race has been at the center of both triumphs and tragedies in American history and has had a profound effect on the human experience. This book revisits the origins of commonly held beliefs about the scientific nature of racial differences, examines the roots of the modern idea of race, and explains why race continues to generate controversy as a tool of classification even in our genomic age. Surveying the work of some of the twentieth century's most notable scientists, the book reveals how genetics and related biological disciplines formed and preserved ideas of race and, at times, racism. It elucidates the limitations of a racial worldview and throws the contours of our current and evolving understanding of human diversity into sharp relief.
Keywords:
race,
racial difference,
genetics,
racial worldview,
human diversity
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780231168748 |
Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231168748.001.0001 |