Full Description
Racisms is the first comprehensive history of racism, from the Crusades to the twentieth century. Demonstrating that there is not one continuous tradition of racism, Francisco Bethencourt shows that racism preceded any theories of race and must be viewed within the prism and context of social hierarchies and local conditions. In this richly illustrated book, Bethencourt argues that in its various aspects, all racism has been triggered by political projects monopolizing specific economic and social resources. Racisms focuses on the Western world, but opens comparative views on ethnic discrimination and segregation in Asia and Africa. Bethencourt looks at different forms of racism, and explores instances of enslavement, forced migration, and ethnic cleansing, while analyzing how practices of discrimination and segregation were defended. This is a major interdisciplinary work that moves away from ideas of linear or innate racism and recasts our understanding of interethnic relations.
Contents
List of Illustrations ix List of Maps xii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Part I The Crusades 11 Chapter 1 From Greek to Muslim Perceptions 13 Chapter 2 Christian Reconquest 19 Chapter 3 Universalism: Integration and Classification 37 Chapter 4 Typologies of Humankind and Models of Discrimination 48 Part II Oceanic Exploration 63 Chapter 5 Hierarchies of Continents and Peoples 65 Chapter 6 Africans 83 Chapter 7 Americans 101 Chapter 8 Asians 117 Chapter 9 Europeans 137 Part III Colonial Societies 159 Chapter 10 Ethnic Classification 163 Chapter 11 Ethnic Structure 181 Chapter 12 Projects and Policies 204 Chapter 13 Discrimination and Segregation 216 Chapter 14 Abolitionism 228 Part IV The Theories of Race 247 Chapter 15 Classifications of Humans 252 Chapter 16 Scientific Racialism 271 Chapter 17 Darwin and Social Evolution 290 Part V Nationalism and Beyond 307 Chapter 18 The Impact of Nationalism 309 Chapter 19 Global Comparisons 335 Conclusions 365 Notes 375 Index 423
