Race And The Crisis Of Humanism

The idea that humankind constituted a unity albeit at different stages ofdevelopment was in the 19th century challenged with a new way of thinking.The savagery ... » 

The idea that humankind constituted a unity albeit at different stages ofdevelopment was in the 19th century challenged with a new way of thinking.The savagery of certain races was no longer regarded as a stage in theirprogress towards civilisation but as their permanent state. What caused thisshift? In Kay Andersons provocative new account she argues that Britishcolonial encounters in Australia from the late 1700s with the apparentlyunimproved condition of the Australian Aborigine viewed against anunderstanding of humanity of the time that is as characterised byseparation from nature precipitated a crisis in existing ideas of what itmeant to be human. This lucid intelligent and persuasive argument will benecessary reading for all scholars and upperlevel students interested in thehistory and theories of race critical human geography anthropology andAustralian and environmental studies. «