Vermont Humanities

A History of the Concept of Race

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Speakers Bureau

Image of multiple faces combinedThe first European to divide the peoples of the world into distinct races, in the seventeenth century, claimed that the Sami people of northern Scandinavia were one of four races on earth; Native Americans, Europeans, South Asians, and North Africans together were considered a second race. How did such a bizarre distinction among groups of people develop into one of the most historically significant ideas of the modern world?

Professor William Edelglass will trace the intellectual history of the concept of race in the West, from its prehistory to today.

Image courtesy of RACE: Are We So Different?, a project of the American Anthropological Association.

Additional Cost

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Special Arrangements

Projector

Available in correctional facilities.

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About the Presenter

Image of William Edelglass

William Edelglass

William Edelglass is Director of Studies at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and Associate Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at Emerson College.

Talks by William Edelglass

Vermont Humanities*** January 4, 2018