False Origins: The Greeks, Methodology, Etymology, and Shakespeare

Abstract

And now, let us look closely at the original object/subject of race itself. A compelling point of departure for such an endeavor, as one might expect, is the beginning. And indeed, there are at least two distinct (although imprecise) beginnings that deserve our attention. We must observe not only the conditions within Western cultures (European in particular) that cultivated a necessity for the word, but also the word’s practical entry into Western languages. The aim of this chapter, therefore, is to question the context and history of both the fundamental dispositions that cultivate the need for the word’s existence, and the word in its earliest manifestations.1 The isolation of two basic elements, the word as a material object that has passed through Western languages (most pertinently for this discussion, English) and its compositional principles, is central to treating the twofold archeology of race’s history, conceptually and pragmatically. The goal here is to isolate the theoretical framework of race, and to trace its practical application. (In stating this ambition, we must also fully recognize the mythical nature of origin. Because isolating origins is an act of recovery, they must always/already be speculative or even partially fictional.)