1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910956479703321

Autore

Dawson Mark S (Mark Stanley), <1972->

Titolo

Bodies complexioned : Human variation and racism in early modern English culture, c. 1600–1750 / / Mark S. Dawson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Manchester : , : Manchester University Press, , 2020

ISBN

9781526134509

1526134500

9781526146656

1526146657

9781526134493

1526134497

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 266 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Manchester scholarship online

Disciplina

599.90941

Soggetti

HISTORY / Modern / 17th Century

Racism

Physical anthropology

Discrimination

SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Zoology / Mammals

NATURE / Animals / Mammals

Racism - England - History - 18th century

Racism - England - History - 17th century

Discrimination - England - History - 18th century

Discrimination - England - History - 17th century

Physical anthropology - England - History - 18th century

Physical anthropology - England - History - 17th century

History

England

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of figures and graphs -- Acknowledgements -- Conventions and abbreviations -- Introduction -- Contemplating Christian temperaments -- Nativities established --



Bodies emblazoned -- Identifying the differently humoured -- Distempered skin and the English abroad -- National identities, foreign physiognomies, and the advent of whiteness -- Conclusion -- Appendix: tables of graph data -- Select bibliography -- A methodological note -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Bodily contrasts - from the colour of hair, eyes and skin to the shape of faces and skeletons - allowed the English of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries to discriminate systematically among themselves and against non-Anglophone groups. Making use of an array of sources, this book examines how early modern English people understood bodily difference. It demonstrates that individuals' distinctive features were considered innate, even as discrete populations were believed to have characteristics in common, and challenges the idea that the humoral theory of bodily composition was incompatible with visceral inequality or racism. While 'race' had not assumed its modern valence, and 'racial' ideologies were still to come, such typecasting nonetheless had mundane, lasting consequences. Grounded in humoral physiology, and Christian universalism notwithstanding, bodily prejudices inflected social stratification, domestic politics, sectarian division and international relations.