The Anatomy of Power: European Constructions of the African Body

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

“…Seligman (and others) exerted their power in the production of knowledge—“disciplinary power,” in Foucault's (1977) terms—in the sense that they “constructed” the African body for comparative population taxonomic purposes and mythological vessels for a range of things. Butchart (1998) describes the “construction” of the “African body” by different Europeans, noting a change over time. Foucault (1980, 52) suggested that the knowledge that power produces itself induces power; this idea has utility beyond Foucault's immediate project.…”

Global Perspectives on Race in Health Research: Neocolonial Extraction and Local Marginalization

“…As reviewed in this paper, an expanded version of a forthcoming book chapter [2], the lived experience of persons in LMICs has become a more central focus for researchers and research funders in recent years, whereas colonial-era research work was too often concerned with studying the bodies and physical health of local denizens, producing tropical disease research that could principally benefit White foreigners with ample resources, e.g., colonists, military personnel, tourists, and business travelers [3]. By the late 1990s, descriptive and interventional research that sought to understand the full human experience of human disease began to expand in LMICs where research Disclaimer/Publisher's Note: The statements, opinions, and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s).…”

Global Health Perspectives on Race in Research: Neocolonial Extraction and Local Marginalization

“…As reviewed in this article, an updated and expanded version of a chapter from the forthcoming APHA book Race and Research [2], the lived experience of persons in LMICs has become a more central focus for researchers and research funders in recent years, whereas colonial-era research work was too often concerned with studying the bodies and physical health of local denizens, producing tropical disease research that might principally benefit White foreigners with ample resources, e.g., colonists, military personnel, tourists, and business travelers [3]. By the late 1990s, descriptive and interventional research that sought to understand the full human experience of human disease began to expand in LMICs where research was already established, e.g., South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico.…”