Polygenesis Term Analysis

Polygenesis is the inaccurate theory that the races were created separately and are biologically distinct. In Stamped from the Beginning, the theory of polygenesis represents both the illogic of racism as well as the idea that racism is not produced by a lack of knowledge, but rather by false knowledge. Throughout much of American history, debate raged over whether people of different races all descended from the same original ancestor (monogenesis) or whether each distinct race was created separately (polygenesis). Importantly, polygenesis had no basis in scientific reality and was entirely produced by racist thinking. The reason why polygenesis never had any real scientific credibility is that it began with a fundamental misunderstanding of race itself. While variations in skin tone and other physical features have always been part of human existence, as Kendi describes in the book, the concept of race was only developed around the 15th century. It is a social invention primarily developed in order to advance colonialism and slavery—not a feature of biological reality. As a result, it is not true that the races were created distinctly, with different origin stories. Despite this, scholars across many centuries advanced the theory of polygenesis, attempting to substantiate it with complex arguments based in racism rather than scientific evidence. Many of these scholars were well respected, with prestigious university roles and widely read books to their name. In this sense, polygenesis reflects how racist thinking has warped human intellectual development, leading people to develop an entirely false set of ideas about the world. Moreover, polygenesis demonstrates how racist practices lead to racist thinking, not the other way around. Those who chose to believe in polygenesis tended to do so in order to justify colonialism, slavery, segregation, and other racist practices. Because of this, the theory survived for many centuries despite having no basis in reality.