New ‘scientific’ evidence reasserted the focus on differing origins. The development of new theories had been phenomenal; by 1850, racial theorist Robert Knox claimed, ‘race is everything, [and] civilisation depends on it’. 59 At the heart of Knox’s study was phrenology.60 The effect of the scientific concentration on the skull was to reinforce the definition of race in terms of the ideal physical, rather than moral or religious, specimen. Textbooks on human variety in the nineteenth century very often offer pictures of single individuals who stand forthe essential physiognomies of their race or nation. 61 The most ‘civilised’ society was the most beautiful and possessed the ideal attributes, while variants were ‘degenerate’. 62 Physical differences were linked to differing origins, and intimated a correlation between ‘lesser’ peoples and animals species. 63 msp.unimelb.edu.au/missions/index.php/missions/article/viewFile/12/14
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 04:46:58 +0000
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