Pub Date : 2025-12-24Epub Date: 2025-12-22DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10308
Giovanni Cerro
This article aims to examine the complex and ambivalent conception of Africa and its peoples in the work of Italian anthropologist Giuseppe Sergi (1848-1936), placing it in the context of the birth of Italian colonialism and the scientific debates of the time. On the one hand, based on his new method of recognizing ethnic groups, Sergi developed an original vision that included the peoples of East and North Africa in the Mediterranean stock and affirmed a closeness and interconnection between Europe and Africa. On the other hand, his vision remained anchored in the "racial" hierarchies typical of positivism: Sergi considered the "black" peoples of sub-Saharan Africa to be physically, intellectually, and morally "inferior", placing them in a "barbaric" stage of human evolution. Despite this hierarchical view, Sergi was a fierce critic of Italian colonialism and imperialism, which he considered economically disadvantageous, politically short-sighted, and morally anachronistic. Inspired by socialist and pacifist ideals, he condemned colonial violence and promoted the emancipation of peoples through international cooperation. Giuseppe Sergi's work thus embodies the contradictions of the anthropological thinking of his time, characterized by a constant oscillation between progressive openness and deeply rooted prejudices.
{"title":"Anthropology, “races”, and colonialism. African populations in the work of Giuseppe Sergi and beyond","authors":"Giovanni Cerro","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10308","DOIUrl":"10.4436/JASS.10308","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article aims to examine the complex and ambivalent conception of Africa and its peoples in the work of Italian anthropologist Giuseppe Sergi (1848-1936), placing it in the context of the birth of Italian colonialism and the scientific debates of the time. On the one hand, based on his new method of recognizing ethnic groups, Sergi developed an original vision that included the peoples of East and North Africa in the Mediterranean stock and affirmed a closeness and interconnection between Europe and Africa. On the other hand, his vision remained anchored in the \"racial\" hierarchies typical of positivism: Sergi considered the \"black\" peoples of sub-Saharan Africa to be physically, intellectually, and morally \"inferior\", placing them in a \"barbaric\" stage of human evolution. Despite this hierarchical view, Sergi was a fierce critic of Italian colonialism and imperialism, which he considered economically disadvantageous, politically short-sighted, and morally anachronistic. Inspired by socialist and pacifist ideals, he condemned colonial violence and promoted the emancipation of peoples through international cooperation. Giuseppe Sergi's work thus embodies the contradictions of the anthropological thinking of his time, characterized by a constant oscillation between progressive openness and deeply rooted prejudices.</p>","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"103 ","pages":"141-178"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145811771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A new open-access 3D database of crania from prehistoric and historic Sardinia.","authors":"Elisabetta Marini,Marco Casula,Valeria Basciu,Davie Bratzu,Nicol Andrea Peddis,Roberto Tronci,Alessio Garau,Paolo Stara,Giorgio Lai,Paolo Lussu,Vitale Stefano Sparacello","doi":"10.4436/jass.10305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10305","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The revolution that wasn't (again): reflections on the advent of lithic technology vs. AI.","authors":"Julien Riel-Salvatore","doi":"10.4436/jass.10311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10311","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"251 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From the Paleolithic to artificial intelligence: reading the future through the past.","authors":"Giovanni Destro Bisol,Andrea Mele","doi":"10.4436/jass.10309","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10309","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"93 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reimagining human population genetics in the age of Artificial Intelligence.","authors":"Alex Mas-Sandoval,Matteo Fumagalli","doi":"10.4436/jass.10315","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10315","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"545 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Faking it for science: generative artificial intelligence at the crossroads of biological and cultural anthropology.","authors":"Aicha Ben Taher","doi":"10.4436/jass.10316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10316","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fire, seeds, and algorithms: contextualizing artificial intelligence in human evolutionary history.","authors":"Giovanni Destro Bisol","doi":"10.4436/jass.10310","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10310","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ghost and the machine: disentangling the fundamental distinctions between human and artificial intelligence.","authors":"Alberto Oliverio","doi":"10.4436/jass.10313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10313","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How useful is human intelligence for evaluating artificial intelligence?","authors":"Francesco Ferretti","doi":"10.4436/jass.10317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10317","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"AI through the lens of social anthropology.","authors":"Maria Sapignoli","doi":"10.4436/jass.10314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10314","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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