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A great colonial exhibition was held in Paris in the Bois de Vincennes Tropical Garden of Agriculture. There, five different towns were recreated where, in addition to typical constructions and landscapes, there were real people belonging to the represented culture. Almost two million visitors passed through that human zoo in six months, some gaping at what they considered yet another exoticism, others taking notes that would lay the foundations of scientific racism one. In his book Superior.
The return of scientific racism , the science journalist Angela Saini (London, 1980) describes her visit to this place (in her words, a kind of "Edwardian Disneyland"), a park open to the public but without too many signs, with the monuments in debris special data no sign explaining why they are there. A good metaphor for what happens to the colonial past of so many nations: a shameful relic that people prefer not to talk about. It is not the first time that Saini has focused on the confusion and prejudices that affect scientific research. If in the previous work of him, Inferior r2, Saini focused on how science has studied the differences between women and men, in Superior the author takes us to the origins of scientific racism to show us its ramifications.
The science of human difference was born in the years of colonialism and slavery; The world was divided into races and the white race was placed on a higher biological scale than the rest, to justify the conquest of territories, the theft of wealth and the annihilation of populations. Inevitably, these facts have left their mark on scientific research up to the present day and Saini addresses this fact without hesitation. Superior , published in English in 2019, was considered "Book of the Year" by media such as the Financial Times, The Guardian or The Telegraph , as well as being included among the ten best books of 2019 by Nature magazine.
The return of scientific racism , the science journalist Angela Saini (London, 1980) describes her visit to this place (in her words, a kind of "Edwardian Disneyland"), a park open to the public but without too many signs, with the monuments in debris special data no sign explaining why they are there. A good metaphor for what happens to the colonial past of so many nations: a shameful relic that people prefer not to talk about. It is not the first time that Saini has focused on the confusion and prejudices that affect scientific research. If in the previous work of him, Inferior r2, Saini focused on how science has studied the differences between women and men, in Superior the author takes us to the origins of scientific racism to show us its ramifications.
The science of human difference was born in the years of colonialism and slavery; The world was divided into races and the white race was placed on a higher biological scale than the rest, to justify the conquest of territories, the theft of wealth and the annihilation of populations. Inevitably, these facts have left their mark on scientific research up to the present day and Saini addresses this fact without hesitation. Superior , published in English in 2019, was considered "Book of the Year" by media such as the Financial Times, The Guardian or The Telegraph , as well as being included among the ten best books of 2019 by Nature magazine.
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