top of page
Screenshot 2024-05-28 at 8.40.28 AM.png

German Physician, Naturalist, and Anthropologist



Who: Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840)


What: Developed a racial classification system based on physical anthropology.


When: Late 18th century


Details: Blumenbach expanded on Linnaeus' work and proposed a racial

classification system that included Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian, and American. In his work "On the Natural Varieties of Mankind" (1775), he argued that the Caucasian race was the original human type and others were deviations. This pseudoscientific approach further entrenched the concept of racial hierarchies.


Why and How It Was Racist: Blumenbach's theories provided a seemingly scientific basis for the belief in white superiority and justified racial discrimination and colonization.


Keel, T. (2018). Impure thoughts: Johann Blumenbach and the birth of racial science. In Divine Variations: How Christian Thought Became Racial Science (pp. 23-54). Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.11126/stanford/9780804795401.003.0002

Comentarios


Address

Johns Hopkins University
2800 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218

Email

Connect

  • Spotify
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
bottom of page