Cranial and facial morphology: Racist stigms according to the thought of the XIX century

Abstract

The anatomical study of the skull and the maxillofacial massif in humans has been a challenge especially when analyzing the variations or singular traits that have served as a basis for classifying into racial groups. Some nineteenth-century researchers considered these variations in bone and soft tissue morphology, skin color and characteristic features of the face as predictors of intellectual development or personality types, aspects that have provoked debates, and that have even established in the collective subconscious what it considers as a social stigma towards certain groups. The term "stigma" is used to refer to those anatomical features of the skull and human face that have been considered at another time, as determining signals of intellectual development or as predictive features of human behavior. The objective was to investigate in theories and publications of the nineteenth century, aspects of cranial and facial morphology that for these constituted stigmas. The method was a documentary review of the authors, their theories and publications in the nineteenth century, about the cranium and the evolutionary development of man, subsequently the anatomical characteristics of the cranium and face was identified that show racist prejudices and contributed to generate social stigmas towards certain groups that still persist today.