THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050043
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: BOOK BREAK
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY BENJAMIN D. BERRY, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
THE GUIDING QUESTION of paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman's ``The Evolution of Racism: Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science'' (Simon & Schuster, $23) is set forth in the prologue: What is the value of the differences among, to quote Darwin, the several ``so-called races of men''? Shipman's book is ``the story of those who have struggled to define that value. . . .'' It is an exciting, sometimes confusing, but always interesting, story.
Beginning with Charles Darwin's development of the theory of evolution and the world view it introduced, Shipman leads readers through the evolution of the theory itself and the conflicts engendered as it was applied to human beings. Early on, biologist Thomas Huxley adopted the theory of evolution, protected it as Darwin could not against attacks from several quarters in Victorian England and enabled it not only to survive but to gain general acceptance among scientists.
Acceptance was not the end of the struggle, however. Shipman notes that for many thinkers of the late 19th century, it was not at all clear that human beings were a single species, especially as new people with pronounced physical differences were encountered. Again, the question was of the value of these differences.
As evolutionary theory was spread to Europe, the debate became more political than scientific, particularly in Germany. There two schools of thought emerged: ``Polygenists'' believed that ``the races had been created (or arose) separately and were thus as different as, say, robins and pelicans''; and ``monogenists'' argued for a common origin of all humans from a single apelike ancestor. This debate raged for decades even after the possibility of evolution was generally accepted.
Many explored the implication of Darwinian evolution for other areas of life, and Shipman relates their stories: Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner, who advocated what has come to be known as ``social Darwinism''; Francis Galton (Darwin's cousin) and Karl Person, who saw intelligence and character as heritable properties; Charles Davenport, who argued in favor of eugenics as protection of the ``white race'' against the growing threat of ``lesser'' peoples; and Julian Huxley and Ashley Montagu, who argued vigorously against eugenics and ``racial hygiene.'' In each instance, Shipman not only discusses the work of these thinkers, but opens doors into their lives, thus giving readers a good sense of the factors that influenced the direction of their thoughts.
At each step, she also helps us to see how scientists had major disputes over the implications of evolutionary theory and the idea of ``race'' to the extent that, in the early 20th century, naturalists and geneticists ``never spoke (to each other), never read each other's papers, because their concern and their raw materials were totally disparate.'' While this logjam was broken in the 1930s with a new definition of the word ``species,'' the concept of race continues to be a source of conflict among scientists. When someone attempts to study the implications of biological differences between human beings for other realms, conflict is inevitable, as was the case with the Wasserman conference on ``Genetic Factors in Crime,'' originally scheduled for October 1992, but postponed in light of the protest it elicited.
In the epilogue, Shipman once again raises the question of the value of the differences between us. While she admits that ``races'' are almost impossible to define, she holds to the claim that they do exist as biological realities, an idea that is by no means generally accepted. The problem, she says, is our inability and unwillingness to confront those differences and to learn who we are, whence we have come and, perhaps, to gain a clue as to where we are going.
Shipman is on target with these questions; we have not confronted the issues of race and racism in American society or in most other societies of the world. ``The Evolution of Racism'' raises these important questions from the perspective of scientists who, having failed to come to grips with them, nonetheless used and abused their craft in defense of various political positions and racial theories. Shipman's well-researched and well-written study of these scientists and their dilemmas speaks eloquently to scientist and nonscientist alike.
MEMO: Benjamin D. Berry is a professor of history and American studies at
Virginia Wesleyan College. ILLUSTRATION: Shipman's book begins with Charles Darwin's theory.
by CNB