Bernier and Beauty

François Bernier and Beauty


Much of what François Bernier wrote about was recognized because of his extensive travels, notably his 12-year journey to Egypt, India, and Persia. Bernier's essay, "A New Division of the Earth", a 329- year old document, is the first work to describe human groups on the basis of skin color and other physical attributes in our modern understanding of the word race. Bernier's division of race is one that transitions from casual similarities in groups, to pointing out very opinionated distinctions among people in geographic regions, to simply talking about the beauty found in the different regions.

Bernier's travels around the world promote his division of the earth into four species, or races. In the  first species we find France, Spain, England, Denmark, Sweden and other areas of the world that can be considered as Caucasian, or white. Bernier mentions little about the physical characteristics of the people other than they include the Indians (subcontinental) that are perceived to be black, but only as a result of prolonged activity in the sun. Bernier's description of the first species is not very descriptive at all. It is understood that his description of the species is of white individuals, and it is left to our own current understanding of the race to fill in the blanks. One could say that his absence of defining his own race pays homage to a mindset of educational superiority. In other words, Bernier feels the need to educate other Europeans on the division of races, but doesn't feel a need to describe the Caucasians as he does the Africans or the Lapps. Another example of this is at the end of the essay when he writes, "I shall say nothing of European beauties, you doubtless know as much of them as I do."

As Bernier writes about the second species, "the whole of Africa with the exception of certain coasts,"  he goes above and beyond in describing the the characteristics of the individuals in this region. He mentions "their thick lips and squab noses, their blackness which is peculiar to them and not caused by the sun, and their hair, which is not properly hair but a species of wool similar to hairs of our (European) dogs." At this point of the essay one may start to question the influence this account of racial division had on the world perspective of the educated everywhere. He describes the Asian countries which include China, Japan Philippines and other countries in the region as having broad shoulders, a flat face, a small squab nose, little pigs-eyes, and three hairs of beard. As the essay progresses, Bernier continues to become more opinionated about his observations. He describes the Lapps (Northern Scandinavia) as having thick legs, large shoulders, short neck and a "very ugly", elongated face resembling that of a bear. From only seeing two Lapps and a couple of pictures, he gives his final opinion of them, noting that they are "wretched animals".

From Bernier's writing he seems to have a clear and strongly stated opinion on how to define beauty and what conditions are necessary in a region for beauty to arise. For Bernier beauty arises "not only from the water, diet, soil and the air, but also from the seed which must be peculiar to certain races and species". In other words, beauty is defined by having a peculiarity that sets you apart from others in your region. The women in the Kingdom of cashmere are white, but they have a soft face and a beautiful height which makes them beautiful. The black women of Africa, who had not those thick lips and that squab nose were considered very handsome. He writes that their aquiline nose, little mouth, coral lips, ivory teeth, large and ardent eyes, soft expression, bosom and all the rest are of the last perfection. 

From Bernier's account of racial devision and beauty, how ideal is it to use Bernier's essay as a way of understanding the perceptions in which race was understood at the time? What opinons arise from your reading of his descriptions of beauty in his classifications of race? Even in current times there is a tendency among the African-American population to have a perception of what is beautiful and we make our own divisions accordingly. For example, some would say that in black women some of Bernier's descriptions of beauty have stayed true, but now the preferred peculiarity is that of being red-boned and of a lighter skin. What other peculiarities have arisen in other races since Bernier's time?