​Racial equality is a new idea, right? Wrong! Meet Anténor Firmin, renegade Haitian intellectual of the late 19th century. He traveled all over the world, duked it out with elite scientific racists, hung out with Frederick Douglass, even ran for president -- but was exiled. Twice. On this episode, we discuss the Haitian anthropologist whose work is finally gaining the recognition it deserves, and why you've never heard of him.

Skin color is probably THE key thing we think of when we think about race these days, but it wasn't always that way. In this episode, we ask: where and when did skin color become the trait most associated with race? There's so much to talk about that we don't quite make it up to the present day--stay tuned for a sequel where we discuss contemporary understandings of skin color, genetics, and race! 
​The pdf below contains a heavily footnoted and referenced script for this episode.

What does it mean to “decolonize” teaching and scholarship? Why would we want to do that? And how? We take on these questions and more in a panel discussion with social scientists and established scholars of race Lance Gravlee, John L. Jackson Jr., Stephanie McClure, and Yolanda Moses. 

Some Resources:

• Blum, Susan D., and Alfie Kohn, eds.  (2020). Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead). West Virginia University Press. https://www.powells.com/book/ungrading-9781949199826
• Harrison, Faye V., ed. (1991). Decolonizing anthropology: Moving further toward an anthropology for liberation. American Anthropological Association. https://www.powells.com/book/decolonizing-anthropology-2nd-edition-9780913167830
• hooks, bell. (2014). Teaching to transgress. Routledge. https://www.powells.com/book/teaching-to-transgress-education-as-the-practice-of-freedom-9780415908085
• Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. (2003). "Anthropology and the savage slot: The poetics and politics of otherness." In Global transformations. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 7-28.
• Wendland, Claire L. (2010). A heart for the work: Journeys through an African medical school. University of Chicago Press. https://www.powells.com/book/a-heart-for-the-work-9780226893273
• The Boise State diversity course controversy: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/18/boise-state-suspends-diversity-course-1300-students

Select works our guests wanted to share with podcast listeners: 

• Gravlee, Clarence C. (2009). “How race becomes biology: Embodiment of social inequality.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 138: 47–57.
• Gravlee, Lance. (2021) “How whiteness works: JAMA and the refusals of white supremacy.” Somatosphere. http://somatosphere.net/2021/how-whiteness-works.html/
• Jackson Jr, John L. (2013).  Thin description: Ethnography and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. Harvard University Press. https://www.powells.com/book/thin-description-9780674049666
• McClure, SM (2017). Symbolic body capital of an “other” kind: African American females as a bracketed subunit in female body valuation. In Anderson-Fye, EP and Brewis, A (eds.) Fat Planet: Obesity, Culture and Symbolic Body Capital. University of New Mexico Press.
• McClure, SM. (2020) Living Unembodiment: Physicality and body/self discontinuity among African American Adolescent Girls. Ethos, 48(1): 3-28.
• Mukhopadhyay, Carol C., Rosemary Henze, and Yolanda T. Moses. (2013). How real is race? A sourcebook on race, culture, and biology, 2nd edition. Rowman & Littlefield. https://www.powells.com/book/how-real-is-race-9780759122734
• Rouse, Carolyn Moxley, John L. Jackson Jr, and Marla F. Frederick. (2016). Televised redemption: Black religious media and racial empowerment. NYU Press. https://www.powells.com/book/televised-redemption-9781479818174

A few additional resources on decolonizing:

• Harrison, Ira E., and Faye V. Harrison, eds. (1999). African-American pioneers in anthropology. University of Illinois Press. https://www.powells.com/book/african-american-pioneers-in-anthropology-9780252067365
• Harrison, Ira E., Deborah Johnson-Simon, and Erica Lorraine Williams, eds. (2018). The second generation of African American pioneers in anthropology. University of Illinois Press. https://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/the-second-generation-of-african-american-pioneers-in-anthropology-first-recipient-of-university-of-illinois-press-fund-for-anthropology-grant/
• Roy, Sumana (2021). “The problem with the postcolonial syllabus.” https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-problem-with-the-postcolonial-syllabus
• Stimson, Blake (2021). “Deneocolonize your syllabus”. https://nonsite.org/deneocolonize-your-syllabus/
• Decolonizing anthropology series from Savage Minds: https://savageminds.org/2016/04/19/decolonizing-anthropology/

In this episode we interview historian of science Iris Clever about her research untangling the early 20th century entanglements of the biometricians, physical anthropology, and race. She pursues this topic through the exploration of work by the statistician and Galton protégé, Karl Pearson, and one of Pearson’s favorite students, Geoffrey Morant. Morant, who publicly opposed Nazi racism in the 1930s and 40s, maintained the biological reality of race and the possibility of racial differences in mental characteristics.
 
Resources:
 

• Clever, I., & Ruberg, W. (2014). Beyond Cultural History? The Material Turn, Praxiography, and Body History. Humanities, 3(4), 546-566. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/4/546/htm
• Morant, G. M. (1934). 126. A Biometrician's View of Race in Man. Man, 99-105. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2790912
• Morant, G. M. (1939). The races of central Europe: A footnote to history: G. Allen & Unwin Limited.
• Morant, G. M. (1952). The Significance of Racial Differences. Paris: UNESCO.
• Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2018, 5/3/2018). Karl Pearson’s Worst Quotation? [Racist quotes from Karl Pearson's writings].  Retrieved from https://www.bayesianspectacles.org/karl-pearsons-worst-quotation/

 

In this episode we talk with Paul Wolff Mitchell, of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, about the skull measurements of 19th century founding father of the American School of Anthropology, Samuel George Morton. Morton used his skull measurements to provide scientific support for polygenism (multiple origins of human races), slavery, and the ranking of races (as we discussed in earlier episodes: Monogenism and Polygenism and Morton and Gould--Polygeny Side B). Mitchell has analyzed Morton’s handwritten notes in an attempt to shed further light on the issue of Morton’s bias which was initially raised by Stephen Jay Gould in his 1978 article (Gould, 1978) and elaborated in his book, The Mismeasure of Man (Gould, 1981, 1996). Mitchell uses Morton’s contemporary, Friedrich Tiedemann, as an exemplar of someone using cranial measurements to come to the exact opposite conclusion, that the races were equal (Tiedemann, 1836).
 
Here are some resources about this controversy:
 
Publications by Mitchell:

• Mitchell, P. W. (2018). The fault in his seeds: Lost notes to the case of bias in Samuel George Morton’s cranial race science. Plos Biology, 16(10), e2007008.
• Mitchell, P. W., & Michael, J. S. (2019). Bias, Brains, and Skulls: Tracing the Legacy of Scientific Racism in the Nineteenth-Century Works of Samuel George Morton and Friedrich Tiedemann. In E. August, B. R. Furrow, K. Richter, K. K. Thomason, D. Costello, J. S. Michael, P. W. Mitchell, & U. Bettray (Eds.), Embodied Difference: Divergent Bodies in Public Discourse (pp. 77-98). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.

 
Gould’s paper and book:

• Gould, S. J. (1978). Morton's ranking of races by cranial capacity. Unconscious manipulation of data may be a scientific norm. Science, 200(4341), 503-509. doi:10.1126/science.347573
• Gould, S. J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: WW Norton.
• Gould, S. J. (1996). The mismeasure of man (Revised and Expanded ed.): WW Norton & Company.

Other reconsiderations of the Morton and Gould argument:

• Kaplan, J. M., Pigliucci, M., & Banta, J. A. (2015). Gould on Morton, Redux: What can the debate reveal about the limits of data? Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 52, 22-31. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.01.001
• Lewis, J. E., DeGusta, D., Meyer, M. R., Monge, J. M., Mann, A. E., & Holloway, R. L. (2011). The mismeasure of science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on skulls and bias. PLoS Biol, 9(6), e1001071.
• Michael, J. S. (1988). A New Look at Morton's Craniological Research. Current Anthropology, 29(2), 349-354. doi:10.1086/203646
• Michael, J. S. (2012, June 14, 2013). Personal Commentary on Morton & Gould Part 1.  Retrieved from http://michael1988.com/?page_id=424
• Weisberg, M. (2014). Remeasuring man. Evolution & Development, 16(3), 166-178. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/ede.12077

 
Morton’s work:

• Morton, S. G. (1844). Crania Aegyptiaca: or, Observations on Egyptian ethnography, derived from anatomy, history, and the monuments (Vol. 9): J. Pennington.
• Morton, S. G. (1849). Catalogue of Skulls of Man and the Inferior Animals, in the Collection of Samuel George Morton: Merrihew & Thompson, printers.
• Morton, S. G., & Combe, G. (1839). Crania Americana; or, a comparative view of the skulls of various aboriginal nations of North and South America: to which is prefixed an essay on the varieties of the human species: Philadelphia: J. Dobson; London: Simpkin, Marshall.

 
Tiedemann on skulls:

• Tiedemann, F. (1836). XXIII. On the Brain of the Negro, Compared with That of the European and the Orang-Outang. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London(126), 497-527.

 
Our episode about Thugee Skulls and phrenology: Phrenology, Race, and Thug Heads

​In this episode, Jo invites Alan Goodman back to review Isabel Wilkerson’s book, Caste. They provide some context from a science and history perspective on both caste and race.
 Some resources:
Here’s the source that Alan refers to: Egorova, Y. (2009). De/geneticizing Caste: Population Genetic Research in South Asia. Science as Culture, 18(4), 417-434. doi:10.1080/09505430902806975
Speaking of Race, Race in India playlist: https://soundcloud.com/user-88955638/sets/race-in-india
Wilkerson, I. (2020). Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. New York: Random House.

In this episode we discuss a speaker who came to UA in Fall 2019 to give a presentation about the evolution of human diversity—but it was actually a presentation of scientific racism in evolutionary clothing. Erik and Jim were part of a panel that rebutted his presentation and we share our experience with Jo.
Low quality (especially the audio) videos of our rebuttal presentations are available here:
Jim’s presentation: https://www.facebook.com/ALLELEseries/videos/1011372252533221/
​Erik’s presentation: https://www.facebook.com/ALLELEseries/videos/955242114852838/.

In this episode we discuss issues surrounding the demonstrations in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
 
Resources
 

• Crowdsourced spreadsheet documenting police violence: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YmZeSxpz52qT-10tkCjWOwOGkQqle7Wd1P7ZM1wMW0E/
• DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
• John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight (June 7, 2020): https://youtu.be/Wf4cea5oObY
• Samuel Sinyangwe’s organization, Campaign Zero: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
• Samuel Sinyangwe’s twitter thread on research-based solutions to stop police violence: https://twitter.com/samswey/status/1180655701271732224
• Wekker, G. (2016). White innocence: Paradoxes of colonialism and race: Duke University Press.
• White People, Read This Before You Text Your Black Friends: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tomiobaro/how-white-people-can-help

In this episode we talk with two past presidents of the American Anthropological Association who played key roles in presenting the public face of American anthropology with regard to race over the past several decades: Yolanda Moses and Alan Goodman. They discuss the outreach efforts of the AAA.
 
Some Resources:
 
Blog posts on Sapiens:
Five posts on race from 2016 and 2017 by Yolanda Moses: https://www.sapiens.org/authors/yolanda-moses/
Goodman’s post from Mar 2020: https://www.sapiens.org/body/is-race-real/
 
Goodman, Alan H., Yolanda T. Moses, and Joseph L. Jones. (2020) Race: Are We So Different? 2nd Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
 
Moses, Y. T. (1989). Black Women in Academe. Issues and Strategies. In F. Foundation (Ed.). Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges, Project on the Status and Education of Women.
 
Project website: Race: Are We So Different?

In this episode we give our take on the rapidly growing information about racial disparities in the face of the current pandemic.
 Some resources:

1. Early Data Shows African Americans Have Contracted and Died of Coronavirus at an Alarming Rate. https://www.propublica.org/article/early-data-shows-african-americans-have-contracted-and-died-of-coronavirus-at-an-alarming-rate
2. COVID-19 is hitting black and poor communities the hardest, underscoring fault lines in access and care for those on margins https://theconversation.com/covid-19-is-hitting-black-and-poor-communities-the-hardest-underscoring-fault-lines-in-access-and-care-for-those-on-margins-135615
3. Covid-19 Is Becoming the Disease That Divides Us: By Race, Class and Age https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-21/covid-19-divides-u-s-society-by-race-class-and-age
4. Trump Says China Could’ve ‘Stopped’ Virus Now Roiling U.S. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/trump-says-coronavirus-could-have-been-stopped-in-china
5. In Scramble for Coronavirus Supplies, Rich Countries Push Poor Aside https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/world/coronavirus-equipment-rich-poor.html
6. As Coronavirus Cases Rise, Navajo Nation Tries To Get Ahead Of Pandemic https://www.npr.org/2020/04/04/826780041/as-coronavirus-cases-rise-navajo-nation-tries-to-get-ahead-of-pandemic
7. How Is The Coronavirus Affecting Black Americans? https://www.npr.org/2020/04/08/829575332/how-is-the-coronavirus-affecting-black-americans
8. Misinformation, Distrust May Contribute To Black Americans' COVID-19 Deaths https://www.npr.org/2020/04/10/831480462/misinformation-distrust-may-contribute-to-black-americans-covid-19-deaths
9. U.S. Surgeon General: People Of Color 'Socially Predisposed' To Coronavirus Exposure https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/10/832026070/u-s-surgeon-general-people-of-color-socially-predisposed-to-coronavirus-exposure
10. Coronavirus: Death Toll Racial Disparities https://the1a.org/segments/coronavirus-death-toll-racial-disparities/
11. Racism in the time of COVID-19 https://iaphs.org/racism-in-the-time-of-covid-19/
12. Fang, L., Karakiulakis, G., & Roth, M. (2020). Are patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus at increased risk for COVID-19 infection? The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine, 8, e21.

​

​In this episode we continue our discussion with the sociologist, David Embrick. Here, we talk first about white public space including academia and anthropology as well as museums, where Dr. Embrick has looked at this issue. Next we talk about reverse racism as illustrated by Dr. Embrick’s work on the imbalance of racial slurs.
Some Resources:
Embrick, D. G., & Henricks, K. (2013). Discursive colorlines at work: How epithets and stereotypes are racially unequal. Symbolic Interaction, 36(2), 197-215.
Embrick, David G., Simón Weffer, and Silvia Dómínguez. (2019). White sanctuaries: race and place in art museums. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(11/12), 995-1009.
Feagin, J. (2013). Systemic racism: A theory of oppression. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Zuberi, T., & Bonilla-Silva, E. (2008). White logic, white methods: Racism and methodology. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

In this episode we interview the sociologist, David Embrick, about structural and institutional racism and diversity ideology. If you’d like to learn more about the relationship of structural racism and other inequities to the impact of the COVID pandemic, listen to this podcast from This Anthropological Life: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/episodes/A-Virus-Without-Borders-The-Design-of-Public-Health--Inequality--and-Hope-ebot2d.
Resources for this topic:

1. Bonilla-Silva, E. (1997). Rethinking racism: Toward a structural interpretation. American Sociological Review, 62(3), 465-480.
   
2. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2006). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
   
3. Bonilla-Silva, E., & Embrick, D. G. (2006). Racism without racists: “Killing me softly” with color blindness. In C. A. Rossatto, R. L. Allen, & M. Pruyn (Eds.), Reinventing critical pedagogy (pp. 21-34). New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
   
4. DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
   
5. Embrick, David G. (2011). The Diversity Ideology in the Business World: A New Oppression for a New Age. Critical Sociology, 37(5), 541–556. 
   
6. Embrick, David G. (2018). "Diversity: Good for Maintaining the Status Quo, Not So Much for Real Progressive Change." In Challenging the Status Quo. Brill, pp. 1-9.
   
7. Feagin, J. R. (2013). The White Racial Frame: Centuries of Racial Framing and Counter-Framing. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
   
8. Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to be an Antiracist. New York: One World/Ballantine.
   
9. Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1986). Racial formation in the United States: from the 1960s to the 1980s. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
   

We finally fulfill our promise to talk about the seven thug skulls that arrived at the Edinburgh Phrenological Society in 1833. We also discuss how phrenology has been used to bolster biological ideas about race.

Franz Boas is the father of racial constructivism. In this episode we interview an expert to learn more about how Boas came to his views on race and how he followed them with actions throughout his life.

In this episode we explore the history of racial ideas about blood pressure. We focus on problems with many genetic explanations of racial differences seen in hypertension in the U.S. Finally we discuss some of the better alternative explanations for racial differences based on the history of racism in America.

In this episode we tackle one of the most misunderstood aspects of race and biology: sickle cell. We demonstrate how the history of its discovery in the U.S. combined with the historical demography of North American colonialism and the slave trade all conspired to create the illusion of a race-based genetic condition. The history of this first "molecular" disease along with its connection to malaria can help to dispel lingering ideas of genetic races.