The St. Mary’s College of Maryland Anthropology Department will host Professor Jonathan Marks, University of North Carolina, for the lecture “Where Does Race Come From?” on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 4:15 p.m. in Cole Cinema, Campus Center. The event is free of charge and open to the public.
Marks will address the historical context of the development of the concept of race, in the 17th and early 18th centuries. He will review the patterns of human variation, and ask how science came to think incorrectly that there exist a few basic kinds of people, each associated with a continent. He will also discuss the biblical association between place, inhabitants, and mythic ancestors; and then examine the role played by mapmakers in graphically re-conceptualizing that association in the 1600s.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education through 2024-2025. St. Mary’s College, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 1,600 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.