- First wave: Theological racism: 1492-1650: During which time the Bible, as you know it, was carefully crafted to make the victims suitably compliant.
- Second wave: Biological racism: 1650-1850;
- Third wave: Cultural racism: 1850-now.
Each of these phases is explained below.
First wave: Theological racism: 1492-1650
- Christian theology as the cultural base of the colonial world civilization.
The first phase of racism is theological racism. Humanity is divided into superior and inferior human beings. Racism – superiority and inferiority – is argued from Christian theology. The authority of knowledge production is Christian theologians.
Colonialism uplifts humanity by conforming to norms and values set forth by the Global North. The conformation should take place with or without force.
“Is it lawful for the King of Spain to wage war on the Indians, before preaching the faith to them, in order to subject them to his rule, so that afterwards they may be more easily instructed in the faith?” (Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, 1494-1573).
Second wave: Biological racism: 1650-1850
It was pervasive and widespread among key intellectuals of the European Enlightenment. It was unquestioned.
In the current history of the European Enlightenment, this racism has been erased, although it was omnipresent.
Authority of knowledge production shifted from theology to philosophy and natural sciences; the start of the European Enlightenment.
- Philosophy: Separates science from theology.
Natural sciences: Use biology to classify human beings as superior and inferior (is ethics, not science).
Link to the institutions of global economy and trans-Atlantic enslavement with the industrial revolution.
Racism – superiority and inferiority – is argued in natural sciences, notably biology. There are inferior and superior human races.
A dramatic change in the perception of Africans. Before 1650: Africans (Moors) visited Europe and were treated as honourable human beings.
With the rise of trans-Atlantic enslavement, biological racism became a crucial part of the cultural base of the colonial world civilization.
Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
“Those concerned are black from head to toe, and they have such flat noses that it is almost impossible to feel sorry for them. One cannot get into one’s mind that God, who is a very wise being, should have put a soul, above all a good soul, in a body that was entirely black… A proof that Negroes do not have common sense is that they make more of a glass necklace than of one of gold, which is of such great consequence among nations having a police. It is impossible for us to assume that these people are men because if we assumed they were men one would begin to believe that we ourselves were not Christians.”
Montesquieu, Ch. De (1989): The Spirit of Laws . Cambridge Text in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge, p. 250. Original 1748.
Voltaire (1694-1778)
“Their round eyes, their flattened nose, their lips which are always large, their differently shaped ears, the wool of their head, that very measure of their intelligence, place prodigious differences between them and the other species of men… And they are not men, except in their stature, with the faculty of speech and thought at a degree far distant to ours. Such are the ones that I have seen and examined… And one could say that if their intelligence is not of another species than ours, then it is greatly inferior. They are not capable of paying much attention; they mingle very little, and they do not appear to be made either for the advantages or the abuses of our philosophy.”
Mellow, J. (2013): Enlightenment Racism: Voltaire . http://jamesmelov.blogspot.nl/2013/07/enlightenment-racism-voltaire.html. Accessed 6 May 2015.
David Hume (1711-1776)
“I am apt to suspect the negroes, and in general all the other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There scarcely ever was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the whites such as the ancient Germans, the present Tartars, have still something eminent about them, in their valour, form of government, or some other particular. Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen, in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction between these breeds of men. Not to mention our colonies, there are negroe slaves dispersed all over Europe, of whom none ever discovered any symptoms of ingenuity; though low people, without education, will start up amongst us, and distinguish themselves in every profession. In Jamaica, indeed, they talk of one negroe as a man of parts and learning; but it is likely he is admired for slender accomplishments, like a parrot, who speaks a few words plainly.”
Hume, D. (1994): Political Essays. Cambridge. Original 1777, p. 86.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
“The Negroes of Africa have by nature no feeling that rises above the ridiculous. Mr. Hume challenges anyone to adduce a single example where a Negro has demonstrated talents, and asserts that among the hundreds of thousands of blacks who have been transported elsewhere from their countries, although very many of them have been set free, nevertheless not a single one has ever been found who has accomplished something great in art or science or shown any other praiseworthy quality, while among the whites there are always those who rise up from the lowest rabble and through extraordinary gifts earn respect in the world. So essential is the difference between these two human kinds, and it seems to be just as great with regard to the capacities of mind as it is with respect to colour.”
Kant, I. (1992): Observations on the feeling of the beautiful and sublime. In: Kant, I. (1992): Lectures on Logic, pp. 18-62. Original 1764. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, p. 59.
George Hegel (1770-1831)
“The Negro, as already observed, exhibits the natural man in his completely wild and untamed state. We must lay aside all thought of reverence and morality — all that we call feeling — if we would rightly comprehend him; there is nothing harmonious with humanity to be found in this type of character.”
Hegel, G. (2001): The Philosophy of History. Batoche Books. Ontario. Original 1837, p. 110-111.
Insult as sciences:
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778)
– Classification of human races: physics and ethics:
The Americanus : red, choleric, righteous; black, straight, thick hair; stubborn, zealous, free; painting himself with red lines, and regulated by customs.
The Europeanus : white, sanguine, brown; with abundant, long hair; blue eyes; gentle, acute, inventive; covered with close vestments; and governed by laws.
The Asiaticus : yellow, melancholic, stiff; black hair, dark eyes; severe, haughty, greedy; covered with loose clothing; and ruled by opinions.
The Afer or Africanus : black, phlegmatic, relaxed; black, frizzled hair; silky skin, flat nose, tumid lips; females without shame; mammary glands give milk abundantly; crafty, sly, lazy, cunning, lustful, careless; anoints himself with grease; and governed by caprice.
2: Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Evolution of man.
“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon.”
Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882)
On the inequality of races.
White race = superior, intelligent.
Yellow race: mediocre.
Black and brown race: stupid.
Third wave: Cultural racism: 1850-now
Authority of knowledge production: social sciences are added to natural sciences and philosophy.
Racism – superiority and inferiority – is argued from social sciences: there are inferior and superior cultures.
Basis of cultural racism: theory of phases. All human beings may be equal biologically, but not all cultures are equal. Everything develops from a lower and simple phase to a higher and more complex phase, like Darwin’s concept of lower and higher life forms.
Western society represents the higher and most complex phase of human civilization and culture.
Racism was introduced in science with the transition from Christian theology as the authority of knowledge production to Eurocentric scientists as the new authority. This transition was based on the transition in the colonial world civilization and the role of trans-Atlantic enslavement in that civilization. The concept of modernity and rationalism. The European Enlightenment was a struggle against the dictatorship of the Christian caliphate. The struggle took the path of separating ethics from science and the separation of church and state.
John Locke (England, 1632-1704):
To prevent religious fanatics from using the state apparatus to enforce their views on others, there must be a separation of church and state.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) critique of theologians:
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not a lack of understanding, but a lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is, therefore: Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding!”
August Comte (1798-1857), founder of sociology and positivism
Law of three stages (law of human progress):
– Theological stage: explanation by personified deities.
– Metaphysical stage: explanation by impersonal abstract concepts, an abstract God.
– Positivist stage: scientific explanation based on observation, experiment, and comparison.
The West is in the positivist stage.
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Europe is advanced: technologically, economically, and culturally. Why? Europe has the best religion: Protestantism. Not crimes of colonialism but the mentality of hard work, rational conduct, and economic insight has made it possible.
Marx and Engels: stages of modes of production
– Primitive-communal: Societies where primitive gathering, fishing, and hunting form the base of the economy. The production is so meagre that they must be shared equally in order to avoid death by starvation.
– Asiatic mode of production: communal groups living in villages ruled by chieftains, clans, and priest-kings, who perform trading, military or irrigation-directing functions for the whole. They extract a surplus from the communes through taxes. So, there is social differentiation in the community.
– Ancient, Classical or slave mode of production: The work is done by slaves. They are the property of slave owners.
– Capitalist society: a modern society based on private ownership of the means of production: everything becomes a commodity.
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