A group of languages in northern africa related to semitic. The hamitic hypothesis was born, and in it the hamites were now white people. Hypotheses definition and meaning collins english dictionary. It states that everything of value ever found in africa was brought there by the hamites, allegedly a branch of the caucasian race. Read this article to learn about the meaning, criteria for formulation and types of hypothesis.
Hamitic is an historical term for the peoples supposedly descended from noahs son ham, paralleling semitic and japhetic. A hypothesis is an idea which is suggested as a possible explanation for a particular. This belief, often referred to as the hamitic hypothesis, is a convenient explanation for all the signs of civilization found in black africa. The hamitic hypothesis was not simply a curiosity of anthropological science. A presumed language family thought to include egyptian and. The hamitic hypothesis, race and the rwandan genocide france. The earlier theory, which gained currency in the sixteenth century, was that the hamites were. These verses recount the story of ham, the son of noah, who, upon discovering his father naked and in a drunken stupor, exposed him to his brothers, shem and japheth. The hamitic hypothesis reached its apogee in the work of c. The hamitic hypothesis proved a versatile tool for justifying discrimination, defamation and violence, but also a powerful social force in rallying nationalists around a notion of exclusivist. The use in genocidal propaganda of a modified hamitic hypothesis the assertion that. Hamitic hypothesis project gutenberg selfpublishing.
The null hypothesis is sometimes called the no difference hypothesis. This paper explores the use of versions of the hamitic hypothesis by west african historians, with principal reference to amateur scholars rather than to. If it remains unrefuted by facts, it is said to be verified or corroborated. Hamitic myth synonyms, hamitic myth pronunciation, hamitic myth translation, english dictionary definition of hamitic myth. In order to make the problem explicit and in order to focus attention in its solution, it is essential to start with certain known theories. Among specific topics are the hamitic hypothesis and its origin in time, kingdoms of the savanna, trading states of the oil rivers. For if i yet pleased men, i should not be the servant of christ. The colonial scholars who found complex societies in subsaharan africa developed the hamitic hypothesis. Research, in real terms, depends upon a continuous interplay of theory. Hamitic cushitic or to the negro group of languages, or even to the semitic.
In his book the mediterranean race 1901, he wrote that there was a distinct hamitic ancestral stock, which could be divided into two subgroups. In the mid19th century, the term hamitic acquired a new anthropological meaning, as scholars asserted that they. Of or relating to the hamites or their languages or cultures. According to the hamitic theory, this hamitic race was superior to or more advanced than the. Edith sanders, hamitic hypothesis, journal of african history 10 1969. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. It was formerly used for the afroasiatic hamitosemitic languages of the berber, cushitic and egyptian branches. Journal of integrative humanism ghana march, 2014 issn. Harris, africans and their history new york, 1972 pp. Hypothesis relates theory to observation and observation to theory. Hamitic hypothesis definition of hamitic hypothesis by. In the above example, a researcher might speculate that the decline in the fish stocks is due to prolonged over fishing. The link between the economic elites that promote cheap labor which ultimately was the rationale behind slavery and racism is as undeniable as the fact that the sun rises in the east and so, unfortunately, is the link between political christianity and those same economic elites. The hamitic hypothesis stressed the punishment suffered by hams descendants, thus reinforcing the myth in modern times.
The power of a z test for h3 is given by the formula know how this is obtained. In the mid 19th century, the term hamitic acquired a new meaning as european writers claimed to identify a distinct hamitic race that was superior to negroid populations of subsaharan africa. Hypothesis meaning in the cambridge english dictionary. The nowrejected hamitic hypothesis, depicting caucasoid peoples from the north. Sanders and gravespatai are well critiqued by ephraim.
The theory arose from early anthropological writers who linked the stories in the bible of hams sons to actual ancient migrations of a supposed middleeastern subgroup of the caucasian race. The hamitic hypothesis is wellknown to students of africa. The hamitic hypothesis is pervasive in commentaries on the 1994 rwandan genocide. The research hypothesis is a paring down of the problem into something testable and falsifiable. Hamites is the name formerly used for some north african peoples by eurocentric. A hypothesis is a conjectural statement of the relation between two or more variables. Hamitic definition is of, relating to, or characteristic of the hamites or one of the hamitic languages. In hypothesis testing, researchers use sample data to draw logical conclusions on the results of a research study and to make inferences on a population of interest. Sergi outlined the constituent hamitic physical types, which would form the basis for the work of later writers such as carleton coon and c. At different times they were seen as an invading race that taught the blacks that existed in egypt everything they knew, and at others they were a miraculously indigenous white race that was the mother of egyptian civilization. The hamitic hypothesis, race and the rwandan genocide article pdf available in social identities 124. Hamitic myth definition of hamitic myth by the free.
A hypothesis may be proven correct or wrong, and must be capable of refutation. For more information regarding the hamitic hypothesis and how it operated to racialize the difference between hutu and tutsi in rwanda, consult mahmood mamdanis when victims become killers. Hypothesis definition and meaning collins english dictionary. This freakish mixture of evolutionism and scripture was known as the hamitic hypothesis. The concept of hamitic hypothesis is known to have derived its origin and relevance to the belief that africans as a people lack the ingenuity to initiate any. As edith sanders 1969 explains, while tracing the origins of this particular western myth. There exists a widely held belief in the western world that everything of value ever found in africa was brought there by these hamites, a people inherently superior to the native populations. If you disprove a null hypothesis, that is evidence for a relationship between the variables you are examining. A prediction or educatedguess based on current evidence that is yet to be tested. The null hypothesis is good for experimentation because its simple to disprove. Racial christianity in the service of the business and political elites by.
Although in a later study 1911, once griffiths research into the values of the signs had been roughly determined, he advocated the theory that meroitic might be an older form of the nubian language. It becomes clear then that the hypothesis is symptomatic of the nature of race relations, that it has changed its content if not its nomen clature through time, and that it has become a problem of epistemology. Hamitic definition of hamitic by the free dictionary. Hypothesis is a formal statement that presents the expected relationship between an independent and dependent variable. Colonialism, nativism, and the genocide in rwanda 2001.
This hypothesis was preceded by another elaborate hamitic theory. It continues to echo into the current day, both inside and outside of academic circles. Hypothesis definition in the cambridge english dictionary. However, since, unlike semitic, these branches have not been shown to form an exclusive monophyletic phylogenetic unit on their own separate from other afro. As scholars developed a migration hypothesis for the origin of the tutsi that rejected the hamitic thesis, the notion that the tutsi were civilizing.
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