Chapter 5
Use the flashcards to identify geographical assumptions about monogenesis and polygenesis. Look at how the relationship between people, animals, and places is represented. To what extent do these images support monogenesis or the idea that humans developed apart from animals and in the image of God? To what extent do they convey polygenesis or the idea that humans developed as distinct kinds just like animals?
Look at the representations of racial groups in the Blackie and Sons 1886 portraits. How do they depict differences among races and similarities within them? Do they seem to support monogenesis or polygenesis? To what extent do they suggest different levels of civilization or different levels of human evolution? What visual cues do you read to make the distinction?
Look at the gender in the 18th-century representation of La Castas, and the 19th-century pictures from Blackie and Sons (in Chapter 5, Exercise B). Consider Londa Schiebinger’s argument that race is coded masculine. There are women in many images. What are they doing there? In what ways are gender hierarchies encoded in racial imaginaries? To what extent is race more gendered?