Tracing a genealogy of ideas, seeing, and not seeing bias: Legacies in science and society of Charles Seligman's biocultural theory of Africa (Hamitic hypothesis) and Ashley Montagu's on race

Abstract

AbstractSome ideas about populations in Africa that were called “races” are addressed in the works of two influential scholars of the twentieth century: Charles Seligman and Ashley Montagu. Seligman is remembered for his notable students and a discredited theory called the Hamitic hypothesis. Montagu is primarily known for his early public interrogation of the term race. There are inconsistencies in aspects of both their works and lives. Seligman recognized and critiqued the problems in Aryanism/Nazi theories and practices, but not in his theory about Africa or colonialist behavior. Contrary to common understanding, Montagu did at one time postulate the existence of biological races, while simultaneously and trenchantly rejecting a race construct that linked non‐biological traits to ancestry or phenotype. However, at an important moment in sociopolitical history Montagu contradicted this latter position in uncritically citing Seligman. Aspects of their work can be found to have continuing and sometimes unrecognized influence in academic and non‐scholastic contexts.