Johann Friedrich Blumenbach: Race and Natural History, 1750–1850 (Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine)

The major significance of the German naturalist-physician Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840) as a topic of historical study is the fact that he was one of the first anthropologists to investigate humankind as part of natural history. Moreover, Blumenbach was, and continues to be, a central figure in debates about race and racism. How exactly did Blumenbach define race and races? What were his scientific criteria? And which cultural values did he bring to bear on his scheme? Little historical work has been done on Blumenbach’s fundamental, influential race work. From his own time till today, several different pronouncements have been made by either followers or opponents, some accusing Blumenbach of being the fountainhead of scientific racism. By contrast, across early nineteenth-century Europe, not least in France, Blumenbach was lionized as an anti-racist whose work supported the unity of humankind and the abolition of slavery. This collection of essays considers how, with Blumenbach and those around him, the study of natural history and, by extension, that of science came to dominate the Western discourse of race. Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of figures 8 List of tables 9 Notes on contributors 10 Preface 13 Acknowledgments 16 Part I Blumenbach studies 18 1 Introduction: A brief history of Blumenbach representation 20 2 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach – Online 33 Part II Defining human races 42 3 Buffon, Blumenbach, Herder, Lichtenberg, and the origins of modern anthropology 44 4 Climate change and creolization in French natural history, 1750–1795 70 5 Blumenbach’s collection of human skulls 97 6 Blumenbach’s theory of human races and the natural unity of humankind 113 7 A defense of human rights: Blumenbach on albinism 130 Part III Racism, anti-racism, and Eurocentricity 138 8 Blumenbach’s race science in the light of Christian supersessionism 140 9 The beautiful skulls of Schiller and the Georgian girl: Quantitative and aesthetic scaling of the races, 1770–1850 159 10 Ethnographic exploration in the Blumenbachian tradition 194 11 The rise of paleontology and the historicization of nature: Blumenbach and Deluc 214 12 The origins of scientific racism and Huxley’s rule 250 Appendix: Biographical sketch 265 Index 272 Introduction : brief history of Blumenbach representation / Nicolaas Rupke and Gerhard Lauer -- Johann Friedrich Blumenbach-online / Gerhard Lauer and Heiko Weber -- Buffon, Blumenbach, Herder, Lichtenberg and the origins of modern anthropology / Carl Niekerk -- Climate change and creolization in French natural history, 1750-1795 / E.C. Spary -- Blumenbach's collection of human skulls / Wolfgang Böker -- Blumenbach's theory of human races and the natural unity of humankind / Thomas Junker -- A defence of human rights : Blumenbach on albinism / Renato G. Mazzolini -- Blumenbach's race science in the light of Christian supersessionism / Terence Keel -- The beautiful skulls of Schiller and the Georgian girl : quantitative and aesthetic scaling of the races, 1750-1850 / Robert J. Richards -- Ethnographic exploration in the Blumenbachian tradition / Peter Hanns Reill -- The rise of paleontology and the historicization of nature : Blumenbach and Deluc / John H. Zammito -- The roots of scientific racism and Huxley's rule / Nicolaas Rupke -- Appendix: biographical sketch of Blumenbach