Barry Mehler

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Barry Mehler
Barry Mehler

Barry Alan Mehler (born March 18, 1947) is an American professor of humanities at Ferris State University who founded the Institute for the Study of Academic Racism (ISAR). [1] He earned his B.A. from Yeshiva University in 1970, his M.A. from City College of New York in 1972, and his Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988. His dissertation was titled "A history of the American Eugenics Society, 1921-1940." He has taught at Ferris State University since 1988.

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[edit] Cattell controversy

Mehler was a driving force behind a successful campaign to have an American Psychological Association lifetime achievement award for Raymond B. Cattell postponed in 1997 because of protests that some of his writings were racist. [2] Mehler's most cited article came from that time and examined Cattell's concept of "beyondism." [3]

Mehler was also the driving force in the 1977 formation of the Committee to Free Russell Smith (later the International Committee to Free Russell Smith). See Russell Smith (prisoner activist). Smith had been one of the Marion Brothers, a group of prisoners locked down in the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Smith and the rest of the Marion Brothers successfully proved that all of them were locked down due to their political activities. Smith's own activities were in the arena of organizing prisoners to fight prisoner rape. After his release from lock-down, Smith was again raped and retaliated as a defense from further rape. Mehler and the committee (ICFRS) supported Smith during his legal proceedings and provided a home for Smith after his release from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Using the resources of the ICFRS, Smith went on to form the grass-roots People Organized to Stop Rape of Imprisoned Persons (POSRIP), which was later incorporated as Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc. (SPR). (See the article on Stop Prisoner Rape.) Unfortunately, Smith and Mehler did not continue working together for reasons not currently disclosed.

[edit] Criticisms of Mehler and the ISAR

Proponents of eugenics such as Glayde Whitney have criticized Mehler for using "inquisition" tactics like anti-racism to manipulate popular opinion and to discredit controversial scientists including Cattell and Richard Lynn for ideological reasons rather than for scientific ones. [4] Mehler's critics have questioned his objectivity because he "may be associated with Communists" [5] Whitney also suggested that Mehler is not qualified to talk about eugenics or racial issues in biology and differential psychology because he is a historian by training, not a psychologist or physical anthropologist). [4]

Whitney claims Mehler combats those he accuses of racism primarily through popular rather than scientific channels, via left wing periodicals and popular TV programming, such as Geraldo. Whitney has claimed that Mehler has published little in technical peer-reviewed journals relevant to the subject matters of his criticisms. [4] Roger Pearson accused Mehler of "activist Lysenkoism." [6]

[edit] Selected bibliography

  • Mehler, Barry. Controlling Human Heredity: 1865 to the Present (book review). Isis, Vol. 88, No. 2 (Jun., 1997) , p. 369
  • Mehler, Barry. The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820-1900. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Autumn, 1988) , pp. 294-296

[edit] References

  1. ^ Barry Mehler profile via Genes on Trial: Genetics, Behavior, and the Law, PBS.
  2. ^ Hilts, Philip J. (August 15, 1997). Racism Accusations and Award Is Delayed. New York Times
  3. ^ Mehler, Barry. Beyondism: Raymond B. Cattell and the new eugenics. Genetica. 1997;99(2-3):153-63.
  4. ^ a b c Whitney, Glayde (Fall 1997). Raymond B. Cattell and The Fourth Inquisition. Mankind Quarterly, vol. 38, #1 & 2, Fall/Winter 1997, p.99-124.
  5. ^ Tucker, William H. (2002) (Conclusion: Pioneer or Pamphleteer. In The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund. University of Illinois Press: ISBN 0-252-02762-0
  6. ^ Pearson, Roger (1997) Activist Lysenkoism: The Case of Barry Mehler. In Race, Intelligence and Bias in Academe. Scott-Townsend Publishers: ISBN 1-878465-23-6

[edit] External links


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