The Origins of Racism in the West

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. Here, 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.

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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. This range reflects the dual nature and purpose of the book: on the one hand, it is a selection of research papers on an important and popular subject; on the other, it is an argument occupying a specific space within a continuing academic dispute. " -Naoise Mac Sweeney, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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Product details

• Date Published: August 2013
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781107687264
• length: 348 pages

• dimensions: 229 x 152 x 18 mm
• weight: 0.47kg
• contains: 42 b/w illus.
• availability: Available