Why read The Archaeology of Race?

Book cover of The Archaeology of Race: The Eugenic Ideas of Francis Galton and Flinders Petrie

Book description

How much was archaeology founded on prejudice? The Archaeology of Race explores the application of racial theory to interpret the past in Britain during the late Victorian and Edwardian period. It investigates how material culture from ancient Egypt and Greece was used to validate the construction of racial hierarchies. Specifically…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Archaeology of Race as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Angela Stienne

Author

This was the first book to introduce me to the relation between race studies, eugenics, and archaeology.

It was quite a revelation: I was volunteering at the Petrie Museum at the time, and the book uncovers the dodgy relationship between Petrie and Francis Galton.

It was pivotal in transforming the ways I looked at familiar places: it reminded me that places I called home, like the Petrie Museum but also the Louvre, have been very exclusionary to many. It taught me to look differently at places I navigate on a regular basis, to look for the other story.

You’ll then…

From Angela's list on why there’s an Egyptian mummy in your back garden.