Constructing Race on the Borders of Europe: Ethnography, Anthropology, and Visual Culture, 1850-1930

Constructing Race on the Borders of Europe explores the visual imagery of race construction in Scandinavia, Austro-Hungary, Germany, and Russia, covering a period when ethnography and anthropology were expanding and theorists of race debated competing conceptions of biological, geographic, linguistic, and cultural determinants. It uncovers instances of unexpected connections, establishes the fabricated nature of ethnic identity, and challenges the certainties of racial categorization.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 23 March 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Constructing Race on the Borders of Europe is a comprehensive study that examines the visual imagery of race construction in Scandinavia, Austro-Hungary, Germany, and Russia during a period of significant expansion in ethnography and anthropology. The book explores how paintings, photographs, prints, and other artistic media engaged with discourses on race, shaping visual representations of subordinate ethnic populations and material cultures in countries associated with white identity. The chapters contribute to postcolonial research by documenting the colonial-style treatment of minority groups, exploring the anomalies and complexities that emerge when binary systems are viewed from the perspective of the fine and applied arts, and representing the voices of those who produced images or objects that adopted, altered, or critiqued ethnographic and anthropological information. By uncovering instances of unexpected connections, establishing the fabricated nature of ethnic identity, and challenging the certainties of racial categorization, Constructing Race on the Borders of Europe is essential reading for students and scholars of racial history and postcolonialism within visual culture and art history.

Weight: 682g
Dimension: 234 x 157 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350233058