The Racist History of the Word Caucasian
May 3, 2016 3:26 PM Subscribe
(Great video + summarizing text) In America, white people are referred to as Caucasians, but outside the U.S. the term refers to people from the Caucasus region, which includes the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey. So why do Americans refer to people of European ancestry as Caucasians? In the video above, Franchesca Ramsey from MTV’s Decoded takes a look at the word’s history and it’s really racist.
It's a short video (4:19) so limited depth. Ramsey hypothesizes that part of the continuing popularity of the term is that it functions to give white people the feeling of sharing something more meaningful than simple skin color.
It's a short video (4:19) so limited depth. Ramsey hypothesizes that part of the continuing popularity of the term is that it functions to give white people the feeling of sharing something more meaningful than simple skin color.
yay history! on mtv of all places!
posted by eustatic at 4:25 PM on May 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by eustatic at 4:25 PM on May 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
On the one hand, racism is kind of our thing and we can't even do it right. On the other hand, considering racism is based on willful ignorance we may have invented some sort of super-racism.
posted by ckape at 4:27 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ckape at 4:27 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't appreciate this human skull collection shaming.
posted by cmoj at 4:36 PM on May 3, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by cmoj at 4:36 PM on May 3, 2016 [12 favorites]
I remember how strange it was when the Tsarnaev brothers emerged as the perpetrators of the Boston bombing, and in public perception, their "whiteness" seemed to fall away from them overnight -- yet they were the most Caucasian people involved.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:12 PM on May 3, 2016 [13 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 5:12 PM on May 3, 2016 [13 favorites]
Something seemed odd about using caucasian for all white people, but this definitely came as news to me (a white person). I've heard this word all my life, and now am retroactively surprised and disappointed that I never pushed for a better understanding of how on earth it made any sense!
I rarely used it before but I will definitely not use it now. To the extent that race is a constantly constructed and often destructive social instrument, I want no part of perpetuating some 19th century racist's ideology. L'havdil but it sounds like different mainly in degree from white people, well, in some ways all people, suddenly all saying Aryan instead of white.
Interesting too to learn about the apparently fabled beauty of Georgian men (which I'd also never heard of before, sorry Georgians). Was that a real thing, or was it just that guy's thing? Is there anything to it??
posted by Salamandrous at 5:15 PM on May 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
I rarely used it before but I will definitely not use it now. To the extent that race is a constantly constructed and often destructive social instrument, I want no part of perpetuating some 19th century racist's ideology. L'havdil but it sounds like different mainly in degree from white people, well, in some ways all people, suddenly all saying Aryan instead of white.
Interesting too to learn about the apparently fabled beauty of Georgian men (which I'd also never heard of before, sorry Georgians). Was that a real thing, or was it just that guy's thing? Is there anything to it??
posted by Salamandrous at 5:15 PM on May 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
I've idly wondered about the word for a while. Thanks for that!
posted by clawsoon at 5:29 PM on May 3, 2016
posted by clawsoon at 5:29 PM on May 3, 2016
"Caucasian" has been in regular, unchallenged use right here on Metafilter, in posts as well as comments. Time to mend our ways...
posted by beagle at 5:30 PM on May 3, 2016
posted by beagle at 5:30 PM on May 3, 2016
Blumenbach fares better in wikipedia where it says he "sharply criticized Christoph Meiners"
and other racists of his day (and, they mention 60 skulls). It's just that racism was not that easily challenged in the climate of his times and his essays were not that influential on this issue.
He did believe that Adam and Eve were White and the garden of Eden was in Asia.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:44 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
and other racists of his day (and, they mention 60 skulls). It's just that racism was not that easily challenged in the climate of his times and his essays were not that influential on this issue.
He did believe that Adam and Eve were White and the garden of Eden was in Asia.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:44 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Interesting too to learn about the apparently fabled beauty of Georgian men (which I'd also never heard of before, sorry Georgians). Was that a real thing, or was it just that guy's thing? Is there anything to it??
For women from the area, at least: Circassian beauties (sorry if the video already mentions this, can't see it on my current device)
posted by XMLicious at 5:46 PM on May 3, 2016
My 600-level "History of the Middle East" professor was an Iranian who left shortly before the Shah was deposed. He began each term by remarking that as an Iranian he was more "Aryan" than anyone else in the class, and since his mother was from Azerbaijan he was also more "Caucasian."
posted by aspersioncast at 5:48 PM on May 3, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 5:48 PM on May 3, 2016 [6 favorites]
The ironic thing is that real Caucasians in Russia are objects of racist attacks and pogroms (often murderous) and are called "black asses" or "black" by Russian xenophobes, racists and assorted fascists
posted by talos at 5:55 PM on May 3, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by talos at 5:55 PM on May 3, 2016 [8 favorites]
Caucasians were often perps in old episodes of Adam-12.
posted by ovvl at 7:21 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 7:21 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
lol, the picture that Facebook pulls up when you post the link is a shot of the cast of Friends
good work, good.is
posted by runt at 9:11 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
good work, good.is
posted by runt at 9:11 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's like my mom always says: "Bigots make poor anthropologists."
posted by anshuman at 9:14 PM on May 3, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by anshuman at 9:14 PM on May 3, 2016 [8 favorites]
Blumenbach, who coined the term caucasian, writes in On the Natural Varieties of Mankind (Dissertation 1775, first Edition 1776) :
Caucasian Variety. I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially the southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all the physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with greatest probability to place the autochthones of mankind . . . That stock displays . . . the most beautiful form of the skull, from which, as from a mean and primeval type, the others diverge . . . Besides, it is white in color, which we may fairly assume to be the primitive color of mankind, since . . . it is very easy to degenerate into brown, but very much more difficult for dark to become white.
—Johann Fredrich Blumenbach, On the Natural Varieties of Mankind (1775)
The quote is on the middle of page 32.
There are various sources online for this quote, this here links to a PDF of the whole book (scan is poor quality). I chose the Harvard link as I don't want to inadvertently link to a racists site.
In Latin: Dissertation and First Edition (in PDF)
For more on Blumenbach, America and racism see here in English.
As an aside, after 1945, the term caucasian was taboo for decades in German speaking countries. Calling someone caucasian in any German speaking country puts you into the far right corner. But now recently slowly once again makes its way into German usage, through machine translations of genealogy websites, and those (mostly US based) websites that analyse DNA, etc - the results often contain the term caucasian.
posted by 15L06 at 2:18 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Caucasian Variety. I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially the southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all the physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with greatest probability to place the autochthones of mankind . . . That stock displays . . . the most beautiful form of the skull, from which, as from a mean and primeval type, the others diverge . . . Besides, it is white in color, which we may fairly assume to be the primitive color of mankind, since . . . it is very easy to degenerate into brown, but very much more difficult for dark to become white.
—Johann Fredrich Blumenbach, On the Natural Varieties of Mankind (1775)
The quote is on the middle of page 32.
There are various sources online for this quote, this here links to a PDF of the whole book (scan is poor quality). I chose the Harvard link as I don't want to inadvertently link to a racists site.
In Latin: Dissertation and First Edition (in PDF)
For more on Blumenbach, America and racism see here in English.
As an aside, after 1945, the term caucasian was taboo for decades in German speaking countries. Calling someone caucasian in any German speaking country puts you into the far right corner. But now recently slowly once again makes its way into German usage, through machine translations of genealogy websites, and those (mostly US based) websites that analyse DNA, etc - the results often contain the term caucasian.
posted by 15L06 at 2:18 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Youngest is mixed race, and we had to choose what ethnicity to register her as, and a recent updating allowing parents to choose an independent ethnicity from the parents, so we had Chinese-Caucasian or Eurasian. Eurasian here is a specific cultural reference that she has a very remote linkage to - 1/32th? in heritage, and not in daily life anyway. All my other kids who had previously just been automatically classified as their dad's race, regardless of their own race/ethnicity were updated automatically to match their baby sister. So now they have to go and petition at the age of 21 to have their own race/ethnicity correctly identified, again as in their lives they have been classified legally four different races so far, so their adult application will be their fifth and hopefully final racial identification, and of their own damn choice.
Legal classification of race is very useful for research and analysis, but it is so murky and overlapping and filled with conflicted meanings.
Caucasian was taught to me as a child as a polite synonym for white, but only as a group adjective because it was just so awkwardly stiff and legalistic. It was something on a form or used by people as a code for racist statements, either for or against white people. Basically, anyone who uses it now, outside of a legal format, is using it as a dog-whistle for something.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 2:23 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Legal classification of race is very useful for research and analysis, but it is so murky and overlapping and filled with conflicted meanings.
Caucasian was taught to me as a child as a polite synonym for white, but only as a group adjective because it was just so awkwardly stiff and legalistic. It was something on a form or used by people as a code for racist statements, either for or against white people. Basically, anyone who uses it now, outside of a legal format, is using it as a dog-whistle for something.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 2:23 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Or ordering a beverage at a bowling alley.
posted by jonmc at 6:45 AM on May 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 6:45 AM on May 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Does MTV no longer actually have anything to do with music?
posted by El Almeja at 7:20 AM on May 4, 2016
posted by El Almeja at 7:20 AM on May 4, 2016
The racist-ness of these German and British scientists has been convenient for today's right-wing Hindu nationalists in India, who claim the entire migration theory is bunk. (It is important for them to believe that upper-caste Hindus are indigenous to India, and did not migrate here.)
posted by splitpeasoup at 7:30 AM on May 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by splitpeasoup at 7:30 AM on May 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
The United States Supreme Court determined that an actual Aryan was not "Aryan" in the sense of "white people".
Whiteness is weird.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:13 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Whiteness is weird.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:13 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Does MTV no longer actually have anything to do with music?
It hasn't since TRL ended and Carson Daly went off to find greener pastures. At least not the main MTV channel. I don't even know what they have now, but if I ever get that bored I turn on MTV2 for actual music videos, although it's mostly top-40 stuff, but that's what the other MTV channels are for (yeah there's several, hip-hop, alternative, country, old-school, etc).
Franchesca Ramsey, like Jessica Williams, is a national treasure and I was so excited when she joined the Nightly Show.
posted by numaner at 8:43 AM on May 4, 2016
It hasn't since TRL ended and Carson Daly went off to find greener pastures. At least not the main MTV channel. I don't even know what they have now, but if I ever get that bored I turn on MTV2 for actual music videos, although it's mostly top-40 stuff, but that's what the other MTV channels are for (yeah there's several, hip-hop, alternative, country, old-school, etc).
Franchesca Ramsey, like Jessica Williams, is a national treasure and I was so excited when she joined the Nightly Show.
posted by numaner at 8:43 AM on May 4, 2016
"You mix a hell of a Caucasian, Jackie." -- The Dude
posted by theorique at 1:59 PM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by theorique at 1:59 PM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Basically, anyone who uses it now, outside of a legal format, is using it as a dog-whistle for something."
Eh, or they're actually talking about people from the Caucus region.
posted by I-baLL at 3:17 PM on May 4, 2016
Eh, or they're actually talking about people from the Caucus region.
posted by I-baLL at 3:17 PM on May 4, 2016
Eh, or they're actually talking about people from the Caucus region.
Or they're just using it because they've always understood it to be a synonym for 'white'. I'd be cautious before assuming it's a shibboleth for shadiness. Lots of terms come from a past where their assumptions were not our assumptions (look up the etymology of 'semite') and, yeah, people of taste and education will choose not to use those words which carry too much of burden, but if you just don't know - it doesn't make you a bad person.
The last time I looked, white skin was thought to be a Northern European (modern-day Scandinavia?) mutation, so perhaps we can adopt Scandimutie? (On Googling, it's complicated.) Or just refer to people's skin colour, if you must, by Pantone.
Perhaps if we all just self-identified as being of African descent, it would clear things up a bit.
Or perhaps not.
posted by Devonian at 4:37 PM on May 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Or they're just using it because they've always understood it to be a synonym for 'white'. I'd be cautious before assuming it's a shibboleth for shadiness. Lots of terms come from a past where their assumptions were not our assumptions (look up the etymology of 'semite') and, yeah, people of taste and education will choose not to use those words which carry too much of burden, but if you just don't know - it doesn't make you a bad person.
The last time I looked, white skin was thought to be a Northern European (modern-day Scandinavia?) mutation, so perhaps we can adopt Scandimutie? (On Googling, it's complicated.) Or just refer to people's skin colour, if you must, by Pantone.
Perhaps if we all just self-identified as being of African descent, it would clear things up a bit.
Or perhaps not.
posted by Devonian at 4:37 PM on May 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Now I'm wondering if saying Caucasian instead of White implies that somehow Whites are different not because of the colour of their skin, but because they have some other set of properties that's subtle enough that you just wouldn't understand.
posted by sneebler at 8:48 PM on May 4, 2016
posted by sneebler at 8:48 PM on May 4, 2016
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