|
Sponsors:
|
|
|
Last Updated: Saturday, 06 September 2008 - 5:45 PM |
The Equality of the Human Races, by
Joseph Antenor Firmin
, (Garland Reference Library of Social Science)
(Hardcover), Routledge, 2000, 470pp.
 Joseph Antenor Firmin (1850-1911)
published
The Equality of the Human Races
, his "positivist" tome, in 1885 as a
scientific rebuttal to Arthur de Gobineau's "Inequality of the Human
Races." De Gobineau and other architects of "scientific" racism of the
19th century served as the targets of Firmin's address to their
problematic perceptions of Africans/Blacks the world over. Recognizing
that such propositions by highly regarded but equally ill-informed "men
of science" held sway in the minds of many, Firmin opted to pen a work
that would serve as his comment on the subject that fueled many heated
debates in the Paris Anthropological Society. Inducted into the Society
in 1884, Firmin came to be regarded as one of the premier scholars
within the bourgeoning field of anthropology, yet many European members
of the society sought to regard Firmin and the only other member of
African descent, Louis-Joseph Janvier, as exceptions that did not
invalidate the rule of African/Black inferiority. Firmin understood
that in order to do the subject the justice it deserved, a clear and
unequivocal response to such marginalizing tactics was of great import.
In this vein, Firmin employed multiple strands of evidence and
reasoning to address the European held perspective on the inferiority
of African peoples the globe over; notions which led to the "Inequality
of the Human Races" thesis as proffered by de Gobineau and supported by
his many European colleagues. In contradistinction to de Gobineau's
work, Firmin choose to title his work "The Equality of the Human
Races."
This is a book that must be read and digested fully to comprehend
the impact such a work will have on the mind of the reader. Approached
openly and with regard for the social and historical context within
which it was written, "The Equality of the Human Races" provides the
basis for vigorous discussion among academics and non-academics alike.
With that in mind, this review will briefly examine three areas
believed to be of considerable significance to this reviewer: (1)
Firmin's analysis of the social construct of race; (2) the
ethnic/phenotypical characteristics of the inhabitants of "ancient
Egypt," and (3) the role of African people in the development of
civilizations across time and space (contrary to popular perceptions,
the progeny of Africa have produced many great civilizations and
equally notable systems of thought).
With respect to the construct of race, Firmin does an admirable job
of outlining and supplanting dominant thoughts on the issue of the
inferiority of African people. In several chapters with titles such as,
"Monogenism and Polygenism," "Criteria for Classifying the Human
Races," "Artificial Ranking of the Human Races," and "Comparison of the
Human Races Based on Their Physical Constitution," Firmin uproots
commonly held "truths" of the 19th Century and demonstrates their
untenability. Firmin's work is so replete with supporting evidence for
his claims that I will leave it to the reader to discover for
themselves the weight of his arguments against de Gobineau's thesis. In
so doing, he replaces such notions with arguments that seem today to be
taken-for-granted assumptions.
In examining the region of Ancient Kemet (currently referred to as
"Ancient Egypt" - another discussion for another time), Firmin presents
incontrovertible historical evidence supporting his and earlier
writers' accounts that the inhabitants of the region were black, a term
that over time has acquired greater social significance than in the
past. In providing copious research on the region, particularly the
journal entries of early visitors, Herodotus among them, Firmin soundly
situates the origins of the peoples of the region in Upper Kemet/Egypt,
i.e. in the interior or black Africa. Interestingly, his argument
regarding the African/Black phenotype of the ancient Kemites/Egyptians
predates assertions made by Afrocentric scholars by nearly a century.
Such a position by a scholar from the 19th century, from Haiti no less,
allows for the removal of defaming designations applied to today's
Afrocentric scholars who are often viewed as scholarly extremists and
historical revisionists.
In Chapter 17, "The Role of the Black Race in the History of
Civilization," Firmin documents many facts that have withstood the
great procession of time and today remain intact as they relate to the
significant contributions of African people to the development of math,
science, architecture, literature, language, and philosophy. Given the
existence of the Pyramids at the Giza Plateau, Olmec Heads in Central
America, and the documents recently unearthed at the Timbuktu
University in Mali, not to mention the work of independent scholars
like Runoko Rashidi, Firmin's work allows readers to observe for
themselves the social and historical contributions of African people
the world over. This being the case, this reviewer asks that the reader
peruse the multiple examples - supplied by Firmin and other great
thinkers both then and now - that serve to dislodge notions of African
absence within the building of historic civilizations.
As with writings from Selena Sloan Butler, Edward Wilmot Blyden,
Martin R. Delany, all from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and more
contemporarily, those of Drs. Cheikh Anta Diop, Yosef Ben-Jochannan,
and John Henrik Clarke, the resurrection of Joseph Antenor Firmin and
his work "The Equality of the Human Races" is yet another horn in the
clarion call for continued research, reclamation, preservation, and
presentation of works by African scholars and thinkers alike. As global
society makes its trek toward the next phase of human beingness, works
such as "The Equality of the Human Races" serve as a striking hammer
against the lynch-pin that holds together pernicious notions regarding
African people both on the continent and in the Diaspora.
© Copyright 2006 by Radical Scholar, Inc.
|
Top of Page
|
| |
|
|
|
