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Understanding racism in physical (biological) anthropology
Author(s) -
Blakey Michael L.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.24208
Subject(s) - biological anthropology , racism , mainstream , human biology , anthropology , immigration , discipline , white (mutation) , sociology , environmental ethics , ethnology , gender studies , history , social science , political science , law , archaeology , biology , biochemistry , philosophy , gene
Abstract The mainstream of American physical anthropology began as racist and eugenical science that defended slavery, restricted “non‐Nordic” immigration, and justified Jim Crow segregation. After World War II, the field became more anti‐racial than anti‐racist. It has continued as a study of natural influences on human variation and thus continues to evade the social histories of inequitable biological variation. Also reflecting its occupancy of white space, biological anthropology continues to deny its own racist history and marginalizes the contributions of Blacks. Critical disciplinary history and a shift toward biocultural studies might begin an anti‐racist human biology.