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The Origins of Racism in the West

Joseph Ziegler editor Miriam Eliav-Feldon editor Benjamin Isaac editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:22nd Aug '13

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Origins of Racism in the West cover

This book is a major reassessment of the place of racism in pre-modern European thought.

Is it possible to speak of western racism before the eighteenth century? In this book, leading historians argue that racism can be traced back to the attitudes of the ancient Greeks towards their Persian enemies and that it was adopted, adjusted and re-formulated by Europeans right through until the dawn of the Enlightenment.Is it possible to speak of western racism before the eighteenth century? The term 'racism' is normally only associated with theories, which first appeared in the eighteenth century, about inherent biological differences that made one group superior to another. In this book, however, leading historians argue that racism can be traced back to the attitudes of the ancient Greeks to their Persian enemies and that it was adopted, adjusted and re-formulated by Europeans right through until the dawn of the Enlightenment. From Greek teachings on environmental determinism and heredity, through medieval concepts of physiognomy, down to the crystallization of attitudes to Indians, Blacks, Jews and Gypsies in the early modern era, they analyse the various routes by which racist ideas travelled before maturing into murderous ideologies in the modern western world. In so doing this book offers a major reassessment of the place of racism in pre-modern European thought.

Review of the hardback: 'The application of potentially anachronistic terms to pre-modern societies is the subject of ongoing debate; and the debate is at its most bloody when considering the interlinked concepts of ethnicity, identity and race. This new edited volume contributes greatly to both sides of the discussion, containing within its covers the full gamut of academic argument from detailed scholarly reasoning and masterful surveys of material to impassioned personal counter-attacks.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review
'… contains informative, well written articles which deserving a wide readership amongst a non-specialist audience.' Chartist

ISBN: 9781107687264

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 18mm

Weight: 470g

348 pages