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Satellite Symposium
The Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University,
in cooperation with IUAES 2002 presents:
Is Race a Universal Idea?
-Colonialism, Nation-States, and a Myth Invented-
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There is a growing consensus among scientists that ‘race’ is not a valid biological concept that applies to human beings.
New scientific knowledge, especially in human and population genetics, confirms the view that human beings are not divided into discrete and exclusive biogenetic groups as the word ‘race’ implies.
If human races are not a biological reality, how and why did the idea come to be applied to the human population, what were the conditions in which ideas of human races gained currency ?
In this Kyoto symposium, our primary focus will be on the relationship of the idea of race to colonialism and the rise of nation-states.
Racial theories began to be developed in Europe and North America in the 18th century, and ‘scientific racism’ reached its peak in the 19th and early 20th centuries, whilst these ideas also became deeply rooted in many societies including Japan, India, and East Africa, as we will be seen in this symposium.
Is ‘race’, however, simply an idea imported from Europe and North America or is it an idea that arises out of some similar political or economic conditions?
As the first attempt of its kind in Japan, scholars specializing in these issues from different disciplines in the US, UK, India, East Africa, and Japan will assemble to discuss this important issue.
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September 19, 2002 at Kyoto International Conference Hall Room D
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Speakers:
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●Part I. |
| １.“Is Race a Universal Idea?:Issues and Challenges” |
Yasuko Takezawa (Kyoto University, Japan)
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| ２．“Race : Social Construct vs. Biological Reallity ” |
BRACE, C. Loring （University of Michigan, USA）
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| ３．“Farewell to Races” |
Naruya Saitou (National Institute of Genetics, Japan)
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●Part II. |
| １．“Race and Inequality in 19th century Europe:human bodies and human history” |
Robert Moore(University of Liverpool, UK)
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| ２．“Racial Ideology in North America” |
Audrey Smedley (Virginia Commonwealth University,USA)
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| ３．“Race and Racism in Imperial Japan” |
Ichiro Tomiyama (Osaka University, Japan)
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| ●Part III. |
| １．“Racism and Buraku Discrimination (Discriminated Hamlet) in Japan” |
Midori Kurokawa (Shizuoka University, Japan)
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| ２．“Colonialism, Casteism and the Myth of Race: A Historical Perspectiveon the Interaction of Indian Beliefs and Western Science” |
Subhadra Channa (University of Delhi, India)
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| ３．“The Residue of Racist Images of Africa: 'Semitic', 'Hamitic' and 'Negro' Configuration in North East and East Africa” |
Eisei Kurimoto (Osaka University, Japan)
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