Book

Bodies complexioned : human variation and racism in early modern English culture, c. 1600-1750

Dawson, Mark S. (Mark Stanley), 1972- author

Overview

Bodily contrasts - from the colour of hair, eyes and skin to the shape of faces and skeletons - allowed the English of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries to discriminate systematically among themselves and against non-Anglophone groups. Making use of an array of sources, this book examines how early modern English people understood bodily difference. It demonstrates that individuals' distinctive features were considered innate, even as discrete populations were believed to have characteristics in common, and challenges the idea that the humoral theory of bodily composition was incompatible with visceral inequality or racism. While 'race' had not assumed its modern valence, and 'racial' ideologies were still to come, such typecasting nonetheless had mundane, lasting consequences. Grounded in humoral physiology, and Christian universalism notwithstanding, bodily prejudices inflected social stratification, domestic politics, sectarian division and international relations.

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Subject: Racism Great Britain History 17th century. / Race relations History.
• ISBN: 1526134489, 9781526134486

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Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
DA125.A1 D35 2019	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE