No.90 Seminar ： Patterns of Man: The Historical Role of Biography in Evaluating Human Diversity
- Niels van Steenpaal (The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research)
- 2015/01/06 4:00pm
- The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research (iCeMS West Wing 2F, Seminar Room)
- English
Summary
While Man, as a social animal, has an inborn ability to recognize subtle differences in appearance and demeanor in others, the way in which these differences are interpreted and appreciated is to a large extent dependent on culture, varying both in space and time. Whereas we are all painfully aware of the harmful effects of some of the parameters of this cultural gaze (e.g. skin color, race, sex/gender), other parameters mostly go unnoticed, unchallenged, or are even encouraged (e.g. beauty, intelligence, wealth, personality). This presentation will raise the question of what kind of historical factors are involved in the formation, preservation, and deterioration of human categories and stereotypes, and will set forth a methodology to examine this problem through the analysis of the genre of collective biography.