"Race and History" - A Declaration on the Intellectual Equality of Humankind

The book “Race and History”. (Photo: Omega Plus Books)

The book “Race et Histoire” (Race et Histoire) was published in 1952 at the request of UNESCO. The book is a short essay but has a broad philosophical scope. In this work, author Claude Lévi-Strauss asked a series of fundamental questions about civilization, about the concept of “progress” and about the default view of the West towards other cultures: does “progress” mean “superior”, or is it just a partial view of the West?

He was deeply critical of the pseudo-evolutionist theory, which saw all cultures as steps in development leading to a common goal. He stressed that human history is not a straight line, but a rich network of “cumulative histories” and “stationary histories”, where each culture finds its own meaning in relation to other cultures.

Written in a precise, clear, yet deeply humane style, "Race and History" is not only an anti-discrimination text but also a declaration of intellectual equality for humankind. This book is for readers interested in anthropology and racial history.

The book covers topics such as race and culture, diversity of cultures, ethnic-centered theories, ancient and primitive cultures, ideas of progress, collaboration among cultures, etc.

The book belongs to the Omega Plus Anthropology Library.

Author Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009) was a brilliant French anthropologist, regarded by humanities scholars in France and the West as one of the greatest authors of the second half of the 20th century.

Claude Lévi-Strauss was born in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, into a French Jewish family. His father was a portrait painter who went bankrupt when photography emerged.

Lévi-Strauss grew up in France. He studied law and philosophy, but graduated in philosophy in 1931 from the Sorbonne University in Paris. In 1935 he joined the French cultural delegation to Brazil.

He is famous for his scholarly works such as "The Basic Structure of Kinship" (1949), "Blind Thinking" (1962), "Life and Maturity" (1964), "The Sad Tropic" (1955)...

HA CHI

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