In recent years a consensus has gathered around two propositions -- first, that the science of race was itself a racist practice; and second, that it is only recently that we have discovered that race is a function not of biology but of "social construction." The history of the race concept gives grounds for calling both positions into question. An accurate and informed understanding of past thinking on race yields a more productive and sophisticated way of thinking about race and about the history of science.
Geoffrey Harpham: "Race: The Theory."
Geoffrey Galt Harpham is the author of thirteen books and over one hundred articles and essays in the fields of literary studies, philosophy, linguistics, and intellectual history. His recent books are Scholarship and Freedom (Harvard Univ. Press) and Citizenship on Catfish Row: Race and Nation in American Popular Entertainment (Univ. of South Carolina Press). His Theories of Race 1684-1900, an anthology of scientific and philosophical discussions of the race concept, will be online in early summer 2023. He has taught at Tulane University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Duke University, and from 2002-15, he was director of the National Humanities Center.
Published Feb. 20, 2023 3:28 PM
- Last modified May 28, 2024 1:25 PM