Talk:Charles Southwell

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and his racism?

Latest comment: 2 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion

It's very strange because in the Bibliography is quoted the article Stenhouse, John (2005). "Imperialism, atheism, and race: Charles Southwell, Old Corruption, and the Maori" but in the text there is nothing about..
What was Southwell position in this matter?
"racial thought in New Zealand ranged from the tendentious claims by the atheistic Charles Southwell in the Auckland Examiner in 1860 that the races were different and very unequal, with the Maori incapable of civilization and unable to feel or express morality or gratitude in any sphere, to..."(Beasley, "The Victorian reinvention of race")[1].
"Southwell's racism exploded on seeing bishops and missionaries back Maori land rights over settler claims. He boosted the Auckland Examiner's sales by deriding the mission's ‘amalgamation of races’ doctrine. Then he sent fellow radicals at home tirades to be fired at the Exeter Hall philanthropists, carrying the implicit message that, since the ‘savages’ cannot be civilized, they had best be exterminated" (Desmond, Moore, "Darwin's Sacred Cause", p. 222)[2]

For balance see Bill Cooke's "Charles Southwell: one of the Romances of Rationalism", Journal of Freethought History, Vol 2 No 2 Autumn 2012. Muzilon (talk) 23:49, 12 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

sorry but I have not access to this article; could you tell me what is written in it about Southwell's racial views?--2.40.140.74 (talk) 09:54, 26 February 2013 (UTC)Reply

I see some anonymous IP editor has just added a POV comment to the article about Southwell being "antagonistic to non-whites, and Maoris in particular." Cooke notes that Southwell actually wrote little about race issues before coming to New Zealand, where, like most 19th century European colonists (regardless of religious beliefs), he held Eurocentric views that are racist by today's standards - e.g. referring to the indigenous Maori tribes who were rebelling against the colonial government during the 1860 escalation of the NZ Land Wars as "savages" who should have been thankful for the civilizing influence of the British Empire. However, Cooke contends that John Stenhouse (who I understand is a conservative Christian academic and is referenced uncritically by Beasley, Desmond, and Moore) exaggerates Southwell's ethnocentricism to imply a link between atheism/evolution and racism. In Southwell's defence, Cooke notes that he did criticise Negro slavery in the USA, and cites an article in the Auckland Examiner where Southwell praised a speech given by a Maori elder at a conference. I've updated the article with a sentence contrasting the views of Stenhouse and Cooke. Muzilon (talk) 08:04, 3 October 2013 (UTC)Reply

The recently-added paragraph asserting Southwell was a "strong supporter of racism and the superiority of white people" in the Oracle of Reason (1841) also appears to be WP:SYNTH. The specific article in the Oracle cited by John Stenhouse, "Theory of Regular Gradation" (online here), deals with what would today be called evolution, and actually says nothing about the "white people" or their "superiority". Stenhouse claims this article has a "racialist tinge" apparently because James A. Secord says the accompanying illustration labelled "Fossil Man" (taken from the work of Boitard) resembles "contemporary racist depictions of black Africans". Muzilon (talk) 21:27, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply

Images?

Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Are there any known photographs or portraits of Southwell? Muzilon (talk) 23:02, 25 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

External links modified

Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

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