quote:Some ideas about populations in Africa that were called “races” are addressed in the works of two influential scholars of the twentieth century: Charles Seligman and Ashley Montagu. Seligman is remembered for his notable students and a discredited theory called the Hamitic hypothesis. Montagu is primarily known for his early public interrogation of the term race. There are inconsistencies in aspects of both their works and lives. Seligman recognized and critiqued the problems in Aryanism/Nazi theories and practices, but not in his theory about Africa or colonialist behavior. Contrary to common understanding, Montagu did at one time postulate the existence of biological races, while simultaneously and trenchantly rejecting a race construct that linked non-biological traits to ancestry or phenotype. However, at an important moment in sociopolitical history Montagu contradicted this latter position in uncritically citing Seligman. Aspects of their work can be found to have continuing and sometimes unrecognized influence in academic and non-scholastic contexts.
No new data in this, unfortunately, but it might be of interest to people who are curious about the origin of certain narratives in African historiography. I can send the full text of the paper to anyone who is willing to PM me their email.
Posted by the lioness, (Member # 17353) on :
Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was the first European to reach Lake Victoria (known to locals as Nam Lolwe in Dholuo and Nnalubaale or Ukerewe in Luganda).
Speke is also known for propounding the Hamitic hypothesis in 1863, in which he supposed that the Tutsi ethnic group were descendants of the biblical figure Ham, and had lighter skin and more Hamitic features than the Bantu Hutu over whom they ruled.
Journal of the discovery of the source of the Nile by Speke, John Hanning, 1827-1864
Posted by BrandonP (Member # 3735) on :
quote:Originally posted by the lioness,: Does Keita mention J.H. Speke?
No, but it's not really relevant since what Keita is referencing is Seligman's articulation of the concept and its effects on African historiography.
Posted by the lioness, (Member # 17353) on :
Well we can see in this earlier English explorer Speke the attempt to racialize in combination with the biblical references, Hamitic, Shem etc I think it is relevant to African historiography, possible predecessor to Seligman
Posted by BrandonP (Member # 3735) on :
One thing Keita points out is that, although Seligman's initial argument was that his "Hamitic" peoples came from Eurasia, he later modified his argument to postulating an African origin for them:
quote:Seligman acknowledged that some scholars postulated an African origin for the Hamites in or near the Horn of Africa. Accepting this view, he stated, would modify the idea of migration from Asia to Africa to one of migration into what he called “Negroland” (Seligman 1930, 1939). Notably, and inexplicably, Seligman did not discuss the implications of the African origins model as might be expected in a scientific treatise, nor did he scientifically invalidate it.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
^ The Hamitic or rather Eurasian Origin hypothesis is like a vampire or zombie that was dead but keeps getting revived.
At first it was skeletal material with skulls showing "caucasoid" features and what not, when that was debunked then came along genetic data in the form of uniparental lineages like paternal E-M215 and maternal N, when both showed African origins, now the only thing left is autosomal DNA. But with the discovery of Ancestral North African and now Basal Eurasian that claim too is highly endangered since the only marker they have left is the Natufian/Neolithic Levant which already shows admixture with both a BE and Hadza-like element.
You know things are getting ridiculous when the supposedly 'black' or 'negroid' Kushites are found to have the same autosomal ancestry as the Egyptians.
All the biological evidence aside, why is it that we NEVER include as evidence what the Egyptians themselves wrote about the origins of their ancestors?
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
How about this for Hamitic Hypothesis?! LOL
4,000 Year Old Kerma Culture DNA Body-bags Afrocentrism "Every. Single. Study. Kerma Culture individual of 2,000BC found to be half Levantine. What does this say about ancient Egyptians? What does this say about ancient Nubia?"
And even this!
Hell, what about Kadruka in Neolithic southern Sudan or Kulubnarti??
^ Or even Iron Age Kenyans?! LOL
And look how the pion 'leaking' the alleged genetic data represents Nubians.
ROTFLMAO
I can't wait for the finding of "Eurasian" ancestry in Ugandans! Oh that's right, already happened!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
