Superior: The Return of Race Science, by Angela Saini

[sophia_sol]

This is a nonfiction book about the history of eugenics and scientific racism, and the ways it is still embedded in modern science. It's a good book, but tbh I don't feel like I really learned much new from it. I got some additional data and context, but the base stuff the book was trying to convey I already knew, which made the reading a little boring. So a good book to exist in the world, but not one I personally really needed to take the time to read.

One of the things that kind of threw me off about this book though is that multiple times when talking about this or that scientist, the author would say things like "I know that [PERSON'S NAME] is not a racist" which feels weird to me in this context. Classifying people who perpetuate racist science by whether or not they are personally racist seems kind of beside the point? They're doing something racist whether or not they are the kind of deliberate whole-heartedly Bad People usually meant by "a racist". But maybe she's doing this to maintain good relationships with her sources, which would be understandable. Still don't love it though.

Comments

[oracne]

...it seems that saying someone is not a racist undercuts the idea that racism is baked into society, we're soaking in it, which seems like the topic of the book.

[sophia_sol]

Yeah exactly. I mean, I think she's also trying to make the point that there ARE bad actors out there specifically trying to move us all towards being a more racist society, but the fact that all of us are at least a little racist because of our racist society is also relevant!

[oracne]

To me, whenever someone says that, it makes me think they're not really thinking it through, which is the exact opposite of what they should be doing.

[sophia_sol]

agreed!

[elistaire]

I don't even know. Sounds bizarre. But people lie to ourselves/themselves all the time about who we are inside versus the actions we take.

[sophia_sol]

oh absolutely!

[lirazel]

I had the same reaction--like, it's good that this book has been written, but I didn't learn much from it.

But maybe she's doing this to maintain good relationships with her sources, which would be understandable. Still don't love it though.

That's gotta be the reason, right?

[sophia_sol]

I can't imagine any other reason, like, she seems to be genuine and she seems to understand the dynamics of racism and racist systems, so like...idk what else might be going on!

At any rate I do hope this book is reaching its target audience of people who have never really thought much about the whole topic before and who will find it eye-opening.