Racial Boundaries in Europe in the Eighteenth Century: A Historiographic Perspective
Author (s):Alhassan Abdul Rahman
Institution: Ohio State University, College of Arts &
Sciences, USA
Category: Article, IJMMU, Europe, History,
Topics: Eighteenth Century; Race, Europe; Europe; Boundaries
Abstract: The historiography of race in Europe is almost silent about the hardening of racial boundaries in
the eighteenth century. Most of the literature on the concept of race in the twenty-first century states that
in the eighteenth century, Europe became increasingly obsessed with racial categories, but these writings
do not explore the reasons that made this possible. This paper seeks to examine the literature to address
this conundrum. I contend that together with gender and sex, race became a category for building social
hierarchies when Europe increasingly became urbanized and cosmopolitan with a considerable nonEuropean population in the eighteenth century. Science was used to create racial lines and to deepen
sexual differences even in the wake of calls for equality for all.
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