Living Color - The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color

Living Color is the first book to investigate the social history of skin color from prehistory to the present, showing how our bodys most visible trait influences our social interactions in profound and complex ways. In a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, Nina G. Jablonski begins with the biology and evolution of skin pigmentation, explaining how skin color changed as humans moved around the globe. This book explains why skin color has come to be a biological trait with great social meaning - a product of evolution perceived by culture. It considers how we form impressions of others, how we create and use stereotypes, how negative stereotypes about dark skin developed and have played out through history - including being a basis for the transatlantic slave trade.

List of contents

List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part One. Biology
1. Skin’s Natural Palette
2. Original Skin
3. Out of the Tropics
4. Skin Color in the Modern World
5. Shades of Sex
6. Skin Color and Health

Part Two. Society
7. The Discriminating Primate
8. Encounters with Difference
9. Skin Color in the Age of Exploration
10. Skin Color and the Establishment of Races
11. Institutional Slavery and the Politics of Pigmentation
12. Skin Colors and Their Variable Meanings
13. Aspiring to Lightness
14. Desiring Darkness
15. Living in Color

Notes
References
Index

About the author

Nina G. Jablonski is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of Skin: A Natural History, (UC Press), and was named one of the first Alphonse Fletcher, Sr. Fellows for her efforts to improve the public understanding of skin color.

Summary

Investigates the social history of skin color from prehistory to the present, showing how our body's most visible feature influences our social interactions in profound and complex ways. This book explains why skin color has become a biological trait with great social meaning - a product of evolution perceived differently by different cultures.

Additional text

"What is most impressive . . . is how easily and simply it transitions from very biologically based data in the first section to more social and historical data in the second section."

Product details

• Authors: Nina G Jablonski, Nina G. Jablonski, Nina J. Jablonski, Jablonski Nina G.
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 04.11.2014
• EAN: 9780520283862
• ISBN: 978-0-520-28386-2
• No. of pages: 288
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 230 mm x 20 mm
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Clinical medicine; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social discrimination & inequality, Social and cultural anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations, Physical anthropology, Racism and racial discrimination / Anti-racism, Social discrimination and social justice, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / General