Constructing Race - The Science of Bodies and Cultures in American Anthropology

"Racial Science helps unravel the complicated and intertwined history of race and science in America. Tracy Teslow explores how physical anthropologists in the twentieth century struggled to understand the complexity of human physical and cultural variation, and how their theories were disseminated to the public through art, museum exhibitions, books, and pamphlets. In their attempts to explain the history and nature of human peoples, anthropologists persistently saw both race and culture as critical components. This is at odds with a broadly accepted account that suggests racial science was fully rejected by scientists and the public following World War II. This book offers a corrective, showing that both race and culture informed how anthropologists and the public understood human variation from 1900 through the decades following the war. The book offers new insights into the work of Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, and Ashley Montagu, as well as less well-known figures, including Harry Shapiro, Gene Weltfish, and Henry Field"--

Product details

• Authors: Tracy Teslow, Tracy (University of Cincinnati) Teslow, Teslow Tracy
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.07.2014
• EAN: 9781107011731
• ISBN: 978-1-107-01173-1
• No. of pages: 408
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Minority Studies, SCIENCE / History, Anthropology, HISTORY / Social History, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, History of Science, Social and cultural history, United States of America, USA, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, History of the Americas, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Biracial & Multiracial Studies