Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: Book Launch and Discussion

Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History, 1750-1820 (Yale University Press 2025) is the latest volume by Linda Andersson Burnett and Bruce Buchan, both former IASH Fellows. IASH is therefore delighted to host the launch event for the book.

How colonialism shaped the Scottish Enlightenment’s conception of race and humanity

In the decades after 1750, an increasing number of former medical students from the University of Edinburgh construed humanity as a subject of both intellectual curiosity and colonial interest. They drew on a shared educational background, blending medicine with natural history and moral philosophy, in a range of encounters with non-European and Indigenous peoples across the globe whom they began to classify as races. Focusing on a surprising number of these understudied students, this book reveals the gradual predominance of race in Scottish Enlightenment thought.

Teaching provided a toolbox of concepts and theories for students who went on to careers as military and naval surgeons, colonial administrators, and natural historians. While some, such as Mungo Park—who traveled in Africa—are well known, many others such as the long-term residents in the Russian Empire, Matthew Guthrie and his wife, Maria Guthrie, or the Caribbean botanist Alexander Anderson are less remembered. Among this group were those such as the Pacific traveler Archibald Menzies and the circumnavigator of Australia, Robert Brown, who are known primarily as botanists rather than as ethnographers. Together they formed a global network of colonial travelers and natural historians sharing a common educational background and a growing interest in race.

Moderator: Prof. Thomas Ahnert

16.45-17.15

Prof. Bruce Buchan and Dr Linda Andersson Burnett, Race & the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History 1750-1820. Presentation of book

17.15- 17.35

Prof. Colin Kidd, ‘Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Reflection’

17.35-17.45 Short break/Refreshments

17.45-18.00

Dr Rosi Carr, ‘Thomas Mitchell, Turandurey, and the violence of stadial theory’

18.00-18.15

Dr Ian Stewart, ‘Racial Theory in the Scottish Enlightenment'

18.15-18.30

Prof. Matthew D. Eddy, ‘Dr James McCune Smith, Moral Statistics and the Afterlife of the Scottish Enlightenment'

General Discussion: 18.30-19.00

Reception: 19.00-20.00

This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and to avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee everyone a place. Admission is on a first come, first served basis.

Accessibility:

For in-person attendees, this event will take place at IASH, 2 Hope Park Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9NW. Please see a map here: https://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/location

The Seminar Room is on the first floor, and unfortunately IASH does not have a lift. If you have mobility issues and would like to discuss access, please contact iash@ed.ac.uk as soon as possible.