The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Race : : A Political History of Racial Identity / / Bruce Baum.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Baum, Bruce,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2006]; ©2006
• Year of Publication: 2006
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

The term “Caucasian” is a curious invention of the modern age. Originating in 1795, the word identifies both the peoples of the Caucasus Mountains region as well as those thought to be “Caucasian”. Bruce Baum explores the history of the term and the category of the “Caucasian race” more broadly in the light of the changing politics of racial theory and notions of racial identity. With a comprehensive sweep that encompasses the understanding of "race" even before the use of the term “Caucasian,” Baum traces the major trends in scientific and intellectual understandings of “race” from the Middle Ages to the present day. Baum’s conclusions make an unprecedented attempt to separate modern science and politics from a long history of racial classification. He offers significant insights into our understanding of race and how the “Caucasian race” has been authoritatively invented, embraced, displaced, and recovered throughout our history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 Before the “Caucasian Race” -- 2 Enlightenment Science and the Invention of the “Caucasian Race,” 1684–1795 -- 3 Passage into “Our Ordinary Forms of Expression” -- 4 Racialized Nationalism and the Partial Eclipse of the “Caucasian Race,” ca. 1840–1935 -- 5 The Color Line and the “Caucasian Race” Revival, 1935–51 -- 6 Not-so-Benign Racialism -- 7 “Where Caucasian Means Black” -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author