The Armenoid race was a supposed sub-race in the context of a now-outdated model of dividing humanity into different races which was developed originally by Europeans in support of colonialism. The Armenoid race was variously described (depending on author) as a "sub-race" of the "Aryan race" or the "Caucasian race" (e.g. by Carleton Coon).

History of term

The term was used by Austrian anthropologist Felix von Luschan and Eugen Petersen in the 1889 book Reisen in Lykien, Milyas und Kibyratis ("Travel in Lycia, Milyas and Kibyratis"). Carleton Coon (1904–81) described the regions of West Asia such as Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iraq, Iran, and the Levant as the center of distribution of the Armenoid race. Anthropologist J.M Grintz considered the ancient Assyrians, the ancient Babylonians, as well as some ancient Egyptians (specifically of Sinai and Palestine) to have been Armenoid.

Nazi use of the term

In his works, Hans F. K. Günther portrayed the Jewish people as a specifically non-European racial mixture comprising Armenoid, Semitic, and Negroid elements. The German physical anthropologist Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt characterized the Jews as a racial mixture that is primarily of the Armenoid type. According to Croatian fascist Ustaše ideologists, only 5% of Croats, but 35% of Serbs were of the Armenoid race. They described the race as being "characterized by a dark complexion and a personality prone to trickery, fawning and cheating".

See also

  • Caucasian race
  • Dinaric race
  • Historical race concepts
  • Race and society
  • Race (human categorization)
  • Degeneration Theory
  • Polygenism
  • Recent African origin of modern humans
  • Superior: The Return of Race Science

References

  • Rutherford, Adam. "Why racism is not backed by science", The Guardian
  • Race (Encyclopædia Britannica)
  • Race (Stamford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
  • Phil Gasper The Return of Scientific Racism
  • Carleton S. Coon The Races of Europe
  • Critical Race Theory (Centre for Research on Race and Education; University of Birmingham)
  • Four statements on the race question UNESCO Digital Library