[Louis Rodolphe] Agassiz applied this penchant for classification to his views on race. Part of the expedition involved sketching and describing mixed-race Brazilians. Agassiz saw the rampant miscegenation in Brazil as a “mongrelization” of pure racial types that would ultimately result in sterility. Agassiz categorized humans into different “species.” In his book on the Brazil trip, Agassiz notes, “the fact that [the races] differ by constant permanent features is in itself sufficient to justify a comparison between the human races and animal species.”
Michelle Y. Raji, “Retrospection: Agassiz’s Expeditions in Brazil,” The Harvard Crimson, April 21, 2016. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/4/21/agassiz-in-brazil/.
Tags: Harvard Crimson, Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, Louis Agassiz, Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, Michelle Y. Raji, The Harvard Crimson