An examination of techniques used by scholarly societies to classify people that constructed the image of an inferior "Other" to promote social stability at home and a relationship of domination or paternalism with non-Europeans abroad. Nineteenth-century French scholars, during a turbulent era of revolution and industrialization, ranked intelligence and character according to facial profile, skin colour, and head shape. They believed that such indicators could determine whether individuals were educable and peoples perfectible. In Labeling People Martin Staum examines the Paris societies of phrenology (reading intelligence and character by head shapes), geography, and ethnology and their techniques for classifying people. He shows how the work of these social scientists gave credence to the arrangement of "races" in a hierarchy, the domination of non-European peoples, and the limitation of opportunities for ill-favored individuals within France. While previous studies have contrasted the relative optimism of middle-class social scientists before 1848 with a later period of concern for national decline and racial degeneration, Staum demonstrates that the earlier learned societies were also fearful of turmoil at home and interested in adventure abroad. Both geographers and ethnologists created concepts of fundamental "racial" inequality that prefigured the imperialist "associationist" discourse of the Third Republic, believing that European tutelage would guide "civilizable" peoples, and providing an open invitation to dominate and exploit the "uncivilizable."
Author(s): Martin S. Staum
Series: McGill-Queen’s Studies In The History Of Ideas | 32
Edition: 1
Publisher: McGill-Queen’s University Press
Year: 2003
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF | Full TOC
Pages: 263
Tags: Racism: France: History: 19th Century; Learned Institutions And Societies: France: Paris: History: 19th Century; Social Sciences: France: History: 19th Century; Société phrénologique de Paris: History; Société de géographie de Paris: History. 6. Société ethnologique de Paris: History; France: Colonies: History: 19th Century; Imperialism: History: 19th century
Cover
Half title
Series title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
1 | The Bell Curve and the Nineteenth-Century Organic Society
The Bell Curve
Why Classify?
The Conjectural History Of Peoples
Temperament And Organic Dispositions
Saint-Simonians: Classification Of Individuals And Peoples
2 | The Facial Angle, Physiognomy, and Racial Theory
Natural History
Camper's Facial Angle
The Art Of Physiognomy
Physiognomy In France
Blumenbach And Crania
Virey, Bory, And Multiple Human Species
3 | The Ambivalence of Phrenology
The Foundation Of Phrenological Societies
The Founders: Gall, Spurzheim, And Relations To Physiognomy
Phrenology And Non-European Peoples
Phrenology And Gender Stereotyping
Phrenology - Social Reform Or Social Order?
A Wide Spectrum Of Social And Political Prescriptions
The Ambivalence Of Félix Voisin
Phrenology And Prison Reform
Crticism Of Phrenology And Disarray Of Phrenologists
Significance Of Phrenology
4 | Human Geography, "Race, " and Empire
The Community Of Geographers: Volney, Jomard, Malte-Brun
The Paris Geographical Society
The Commercial And Colonial Imperative
Classifying Peoples: West And East Africans
Facial Angles And Phrenology In Oceania And Australia
Dumont D'Urville
The Impact Of Dumont’s Voyage: Dumoutier And Phrenology
The Synergy Of Racial Inequality And Imperialism
5 | Ethnology and the Civilizability of "Races"
Early Anthropological Institutions
The Rise Of Polygenist Racial Theory
Foundations Of The SEP
Physical And Cultural Investigations Of The SEP
Variations Of Saint-Simonianism
Egalitarianism Versus Racial Hierarchy - Evidence Of Egyptian Monuments
Monogenists (Secular And Religious)
And Polygenists In The SEP
Report Of The 1847 Discussion And The
Decline Of The Society
French Ethnology And
American Polygenism
Significance Of The SEP
6 | Constructing th "Other" in the Early Social Sciences
The Legacy Of Phrenology
Degeneracy And The “Born Criminal
The Geographical Society And Empire
The Continuity Of Anthropological Discourse
Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix 1 | Active Members of the Société phrénologique de Paris or supporters of phrenology
Appendix 2 | Société de géographie de Paris Founders
Appendix 3 | Members of the Société ethnologique de Paris
Bibliography
Index
