Caucasian race

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For peoples actually from the Caucasus, see Peoples of the Caucasus; for other uses of the term, see Caucasian.
 The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (March 2008)

The Caucasian race, sometimes called the Caucasoid race,[1][2] is defined by the Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English as "relating to a broad division of humankind covering peoples from Europe, Western Asia, parts of the Indian Subcontinent and North Africa" or "white-skinned; of European origin" or "relating to the region of the Caucasus in SE Europe".[3] The concept originated in attempts chiefly by 19th c. European thinkers to develop a method of racial classification. This typological method was discredited and the concept is not relied on in scientific work related to humans.[4][5] However, it survives along with the similar classification "white" on many sociological studies, most of which require respondents to choose their "race" from a list of terms. Some also allow "other" or "mixed". The idea is to use the self-selected classification (sometimes selected by the surveyor by appearance) for correllational studies, sometimes in conjunction with other sciences, especially medicine and public health. People in Europe, especially in Russia and nearby, generally use the term "Caucasian" exclusively to identify people who are from the Caucasus region or who speak the Caucasian languages.

Contents

[edit] Origins of the term

The famed exemplary Georgian skull Blumenbach discovered in 1795 to hypothesize origination of Europeans from the Caucasus.
The famed exemplary Georgian skull Blumenbach discovered in 1795 to hypothesize origination of Europeans from the Caucasus.

The term "Caucasian" originated as one of the racial categories developed in the 19th century by people studying craniology. It was derived from the region of the Caucasus mountains[6]. The 18th century German philosopher Christoph Meiners first named the concept of the Caucasian race[7], but the term was more widely popularized in the 19th c. under the name "Varietas Caucasia" by the German scientist and naturalist, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840) who "borrowed the name Caucasian" from Meiners.[8] Blumenbach based the classification of the Caucasian race primarily on skull features, which Blumenbach claimed were optimized by the Caucasian peoples,[9] particularly a single skull from the Caucasia which resembled German skulls.[10] It was from this similarity that he conjectured Europeans having arisen in the Caucasia.[10] Blumenbach wrote about the "primeval"[7] Caucasian race which he believed was "the oldest race of man"[7] and the "first variety of humankind"[7].

Caucasian variety - I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones (birth place) of mankind[11]

In 1855, French diplomat and man of letters Arthur de Gobineau popularized ideas about race: "I must say, once and for all, that I understand by white men the members of those races which are also called Caucasian[12]... [these] white races... had their first settlement in the Caucasus."[12]

The Caucasus was historically an area of fascination for Europeans. Myths of the Caucasus featured Prometheus and Jason and the Argonauts.[13] Greek mythology considered women from the Caucasus to have magical powers.[7], such as Medea of Jason and the Argonauts fame. In Greek mythology, this area was thought of as a kind of hell since Zeus imprisoned many Titans who opposed him (e.g. Prometheus) there. In this sense, these Titans were banished outside the civilized world to an area inhabited by Colchians. The Greeks considered them barbaric.[14]

[edit] Populations included

Among the main racial group of Caucasians there are three subgroups; Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean.

Huxley's map of racial categories from On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind (1870). Caucasians, marked in red, are identified as occupants of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, through to Northern India.
Huxley's map of racial categories from On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind (1870). Caucasians, marked in red, are identified as occupants of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, through to Northern India.

18th century anthropologist Christoph Meiners, who first defined the Caucasian race, posited a "binary racial scheme" of two races with the Caucasian whose racial purity was exemplified by the "venerated... ancient Germans", although he considered some Europeans as impure "dirty whites"; and "Mongolians", who consisted of everyone else.[7] Meiners did not include the Jews as Caucasians and ascribed them a "permanently degenerate nature".[15] Anthropologist Johann Blumenbach, Meiners' contemporary, stated, "to this first variety [Caucasians] belong the inhabitants of Europe (except the Lapps and the remaining descendents of the Finns) and those of Eastern Asia, as far as the river Obi, the Caspian Sea, the Ganges and the Basque Country; and lastly, those of North Africa" [7]. French doctor and pharmacist Jean Joseph-Virey[16] also known as "Julien-Joseph Virey"[17] or "Jean-Julien Virey"[18] followed Meiners' racial system. Hannah Franzieka identified 19th c. writers who believed in the "Caucasian hypothesis" and noted that "Jean-Julien Virey and Louis Antoine Desmoulines were well-known supports of the idea that Europeans came from Mount Caucasus."[18] In his political history of racial identity, Bruce Baum wrote,"Jean-Joseph Virey (1774-1847), a follower of Chistoph Meiners, claimed that "the human races... may divided... into those who are fair and white and those who are dark or black."[19]

[edit] People of South Asia

Early 20th century anthropologist Carleton Coon wrote in the 1930s that within the Caucasoid race there is a "third division [Mediterraneans which]... included... southern India" but remarked this group had "facial features of a Veddoid character which in some instances suggest Australoid affinities."[20] He further elaborated that in India there are "Veddoids... individuals who are to all extents and purposes Australoid." Regarding the exact racial composition of India, Coon admitted, "[T]he racial history of southern Asia has not yet been thoroughly worked out, and it is too early to postulate what these relationships may be...[I] shall leave the problems of Indian physical anthropology in the competent hands of Guha and of Bowles."[20]

In 1995, geneticist Cavalli-Sforza wrote, "[T]he Caucasoids are mainly fair-skinned peoples, but this group also includes the southern Indians, who live in tropical areas and show signs of a marked darkening in skin pigmentation, although their facial and body traits are Caucasoid rather than African or Australian."[21]

[edit] Physical characteristics

Meyers Blitz-Lexikon (Leipzig, 1932) divides "Caucasoid types" into: Nordic, Dinaric, Mediterranean, Alpine, East Baltic, Turks, Bedouins, Afghans.
Meyers Blitz-Lexikon (Leipzig, 1932) divides "Caucasoid types" into: Nordic, Dinaric, Mediterranean, Alpine, East Baltic, Turks, Bedouins, Afghans.

18th century anthropologist Christoph Meiners, who first defined the term, characterized the "Caucasian" as having the characteristics of "lightness", "beauty" and being "handsome" with the "ancient Germans" having the "whitest, most blooming and most delicate skin" because they were the most racially pure Caucasians.[7] 18th century anthropologist Johann Blumenbach, the second person to define the term, considered Caucasians to be the top of "racial hierarchy" he organized where, "the white color holds the first place, such as it is that most Europeans. The redness of cheeks in this variety is almost peculiar to it: at all events it is but seldom seen in the rest." and described Caucasians as, "Color white, Cheeks rosy; hair brown or chestnut-colored; head subglobular; face oval, straight, its parts moderately defined, forehead smooth, nose narrow, slightly hooked, mouth small. The primary teeth placed perpendicularly to each jaw: the lips (especially the lower one) moderately open, the chin full and rounded."[7]

In 2003, the term "Caucasoid race" is a term used in physical anthropology to refer to people of a certain range of anthropometric measurements [22].

However, some anthropologists point to Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalis and Nubians who exhibit phenotypical traits such as orthognathism, keen facial features and non-kinky hair texture usually exclusive to Caucasoid peoples. They contend such variations are indigenous to these groups and cannot be attributed to invasions from outside Caucasoid peoples as suggested under the Dynastic Race Theory and in more recent biological studies.[23] Such phenotypical variations, they argue, often occur within nuclear family groups and are inherent to what they term "Africoid" peoples, much as there are broad variations in physical stature and body proportions between the Pygmies of the Congo, who generally reach a height of 4.5 feet, and of the Tutsi of Rwanda, whose average height is 6.5 feet and who are described as "gracile", or gracefully slender.[24] Similarly, they continue, African peoples commonly considered "Negroid" such as the Senegalese also sometimes lack prognathism.[25].

This view, however, has no shortage of critics whom argue that a segment of the Wolof people of Senegal possesses Caucasoid maternal admixture which could very well explain the relatively attenuated prognathism attributed to some members of that population. Critics also point out that the so-called "elongated" physique common to many Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis is strictly an adaptive response to living in a tropical environment and not a sign of shared racial ancestry with neighboring black groups as has been proposed:

The elongation of the distal segments of the limbs is also clearly related to the dissipation of metabolically generated heat. Because heat stress and latitude are clearly related, one would expect to find a correlation between the two sets of traits that are associated with adaptation to survival in areas of great ambient temperature, namely, skin color and limb proportions. This is clearly the case in such areas as Equatorial Africa, the tropical portions of South Asia, and northern Australia, although there is little covariation with other sets of inherited traits. In this regard it is interesting to note that the limb proportions of the Predynastic Naqada in Upper Egypt are reported to be "super-Negroid", meaning that the distal segments are elongated in the fashion of tropical Africans. It would be just as accurate to call them "super-Veddoid" or "super-Carpentarian" because skin color intensification and distal limb elongation are apparent wherever people have been long-term residents of the tropics. The term "super-tropical" would be better, as it implies the results of selection associated with a given latitude rather than the more "racially loaded" term "Negroid.[26]

[edit] Usage

With the turn away from racial theory in the late 20th century, the term "Caucasian" as a racial classification fell into disuse in Europe. In Germany and Russia, the term "Europid" or "Europoid" is used. Consequently, in the United Kingdom, the term "Caucasian" is more likely than in the United States to describe people from the Caucasus, although it may still be used as a racial classification.[27] Sarah A Tishkoff and Kenneth K Kidd state, "Despite disagreement among anthropologists, this classification remains in use by many researchers, as well as lay people."[28] According to Leonard Lieberman, Rodney C. Kirk, and Alice Littlefield, the concept of race has all but been completely rejected by modern mainstream anthropology.[29] In 2003, United States National Library of Medicine stopped using the term Caucasian race in favor of the term "European".[30] In the United States, "Caucasian" has been mainly a distinction based on skin color with "white" or light complexion. Caucasians are also distinguished as a people who are, or whose ancestors were, "from Europe" .[7] Whether "Caucasian", "white", or "European" is used, it is also common in studies today to use the term "Latin" or "Latino/Latina", asking those with ancestral origins from Spain or Portugal to check that instead.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary defines "Caucasoid" as as noun or adjective meaning "Of, pertaining to, or resembling the Caucasian race."
  2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Sign In
  3. ^ AskOxford: Caucasian
  4. ^ O'Neil, Dennis. "Biological Anthropology Terms." 2006. May 13, 2007. Palomar College.[1]
  5. ^ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/gill.html Does Race Exist? A proponent's perspective by George W. Gill.
  6. ^ University of Pennsylvania [2]
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Painter, Nell Irvin. Yale University. "Why White People are Called Caucasian?" 2003. September 27, 2007. [3]
  8. ^ University of Pennsylvania [4]
  9. ^ Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, The anthropological treatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, translated by Thomas Bendyshe. 1865. November 2, 2006. [5]
  10. ^ a b Gossett, Thomas F. New Edition Race The History of an Idea in America. New York:Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-19-509778-5 p. 38
  11. ^ Blumenbach , De generis humani varietate nativa (3rd ed. 1795), trans. Bendyshe (1865). Quoted e.g. in Arthur Keith, Blumenbach's Centenary, Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1940).
  12. ^ a b Gobineau, Arthur (1915). The Inequality of Human Races. Putnam. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
  13. ^ Caucasus, Historical Notes [6]
  14. ^ (Ovid, Metamorphoses V 830-845)
  15. ^ Eigen, Sara. The German Invention of Race. Suny Press:New York, 2006. ISBN 0-79146-677-9 p.205
  16. ^ Chapman, Herrik. Race in France. Berghahn Books:2004. ISBN 157181857X
  17. ^ Guerdon, Martial. Arts and Societies. "the physiognomy of jean-baptiste delestre (1800-1871) : ideal beauty and autopsy of the social body." 2004. October 22, 2007. [7]
  18. ^ a b Franzieka, Hannah. Berghahn Books: 2004. ISBN 157181857X James Cowles Prichard's Anthropology: Remaking the Science of Man in Early
  19. ^ Baum, Bruce David. The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Race: A Political History of Racial Identity. New York University: 2006. ISBN 0814798926
  20. ^ a b Coon, Carleton S. The Races of Europe. Greenwood:USA, 1972 ISBN 0837163285 p.2
  21. ^ The Great Human Diasporas by Cavali-Sforza, 1995, pg 119-120
  22. ^ Reinhard, K.J., & Hastings, D. (Annual 2003) Learning from the ancestors: the value of skeletal study.(study of ancestors of Omaha Tribe of Nebraska). In American Journal of Physical Anthropology, p177(1).
  23. ^ Leiberman and Jackson 1995 "Race and Three Models of Human Origins" in American Anthropologist 97(2) 231-242
  24. ^ Cheikh Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, (Lawrence Hill Books (July 1, 1989), pp. 37-279
  25. ^ Jean Hiernaux, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 78, No. 2 (Jun., 1976)
  26. ^ Brace CL, Tracer DP, Yaroch LA, Robb J, Brandt K, Nelson AR (1993). Clines and clusters versus "race:" a test in ancient Egypt and the case of a death on the Nile. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 36:1–31.
  27. ^ Katsiavriades, Kryss. Qureshi, Talaat. English Usage in the UK and USA. 1997. October 26, 2006. [8]; see also Pearsell, Judy and Trumble, Bill (Eds) Oxford English Reference Dictionary. 2002.
  28. ^ Implications of biogeography of human populations for 'race' and medicine - Nature Genetics
  29. ^ Leonard Lieberman, Rodney C. Kirk, and Alice Littlefield, "Perishing Paradigm: Race—1931-99," American Anthropologist 105, no. 1 (2003): 110-13
  30. ^ NLM Technical Bulletin, November-December 2003, MEDLINE Data Changes - 2004

[edit] References

[edit] Literature

  • Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, On the Natural Varieties of Mankind (1775) — the book that introduced the concept
  • Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man — a history of the pseudoscience of race, skull measurements, and IQ inheritability
  • L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, The History and Geography of Human Genes — a major reference of modern population genetics
  • L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Genes, Peoples, and Languages
  • H. F. Augstein, "From the Land of the Bible to the Caucasus and Beyond," in Waltraud Emst and B. Harris, Race, Science and Medicine, 1700-1960 (London: Routledge, 1999): 58-79.
  • Bruce Baum, The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Race: A Political History of Racial Identity (New York: New York University Press, 2006)
  • Paul Lawrence Guthrie, The Making of the Whiteman: From the Original Man to the Whiteman (Paperback), ISBN 0-948390-49-2
  • The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley, by John W. Cole (Author), Eric R. Wolf University of California Press; 1 edition (October 11, 1999) ISBN-10: 0520216814 ISBN-13: 978-0520216815

[edit] See also