| “ | Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix. | ” |
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (May 11, 1752 – January 22, 1840) was a Germanphysiologist and physical anthropologist, one of the founders of scientific racism theories.
as i was working from home today, still nursing my sore throat and fever ...i chanced a documentary in BBC about loving vs virginia - a landmark civil rights case which ended race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the united states in the 60s.
that story has been made into a movie called "Mr and Mrs Loving" back in 1996 starring once-hollywood-heartthrob of the 80s- Timothy Hutton.
what interests me was the use of 18th century definition of race (quote above) which was used by the judge as he passed the judgement.
malay?
malay was definited as one of the 5 races of the world back then, and it was described as "Tawny-coloured; hair black, soft, curly, thick and plentiful; head moderately narrowed; forehead slightly swelling; nose full, rather wide, as it were diffuse, end thick; mouth large. upper jaw somewhat prominent with the parts of the face when seen in profile, sufficiently prominent and distinct from each other" how i wish that i have thick and plentiful hair and narrowed head.
i didn't know much about my own race but without that study long time ago, perhaps the idea of being a malay race will never come about, perhaps we will be classified as 'others', like our eurasian counterparts back in singapore :-(
black/white/yellow/brown/orange/whatevers...love all, serve all,
x
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