Doctoral Dissertation Research: A History of Pathological Anatomy and Racial Science in America

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral Dissertation Research: A History of Pathological Anatomy and Racial Science in America Under the direction of Randy Sparks, Ph.D. student, Christopher D Willoughby, will undertake a history of science project that will explore the roughly simultaneous rise of pathological anatomy and polygenesis (the theory that each race was a different species). Through archival research the co-PI will analyze how professors discussed emerging theories of the body, particularly in anatomical lectures, and how these antebellum theorists helped set the tone for the medical and scientific theories of race that emerged in the post-Darwin world, particularly in eugenics and social Darwinism. In addition to a dissertation, the co-PI plans to publish his results in a book, and articles including ones directed to non-specialist readers which would link the historical work to more recent examples of how scientific theories of race have affected American society.