By Jonathan Hsy Jonathan Hsy is an Associate Professor of English at George Washington University, and his teaching and research interests span medieval literature, translation studies, and disability theory. He blogs at In The Middle (a group medieval studies blog) and co-directs the Global Chaucers project, a real-life and online community exploring Chaucer’s modern reception […]
by “The Theoretical Naturalist,” Anjali Benjamin-Webb I am a woman, a world traveler of predominantly Sri Lankan, African American, and Native American descent, and I am captivated by classical physiognomy, or the art of making character judgements based on physical attributes. I feel that being a ‘multi-racial’ person who does not necessarily resemble any one […]
by “The Pseudo-Scientist,” Tiffany Kinh Lam As an Asian American who grew up in a predominantly Latino community of inner city Los Angeles, I stood out significantly in appearance as a minority among minorities. I grew up in a highly racialized setting where I was treated differently due to my physical attributes characteristic of East […]
by “The Fake Philosopher,” Malaysia Johnson Racial identity has been used to a great extent in biomedicine, forensic anthropology, law enforcement, etc. It has been a common variable in studies of human difference through the ages, particularly physiognomy—the art of deciphering a person’s character from her appearance—in the classical and medieval periods, and human evolution […]
In November 2015, English 291 students were asked to consider the history of physiognomy—the premodern science of deciphering a person’s character based on her appearance, including facial attributes, skin color, hair color, hairiness, motions, etc. For example, in the image above from Johann Caspar Lavater’s late 18th-century Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge […]
Welcome to What Is Racial Difference? This is a site for asking what race consists of: is it color? culture? geography? This is a site for asking what race does: does it produce division and strife? define and maintain communities? create and uphold structures of inequality? provide a platform for passing down rituals and values? This is […]
