Mongoloid

Mongolism was formerly employed to describe people with Down syndrome. For the song by Devo, see Mongoloid (song).

The term Mongoloid is a variation of the word "Mongol", meaning "Mongol-like". It was coined as a racial category to describe the distinctive appearance of East Asian peoples. The term Mongoloid has also been extended to include Native Americans in some classification systems[2], though the inclusion of Native Americans under the Mongoloid category is controversial. Variations include Mongolian race, "Sinoid" or "Mongolid". Today it is most used in discussions of human prehistory, historical definitions of race and in the forensic analysis of human remains. The concept's existence is based on a now disputed typological method of racial classification. In forensics, Mongoloid is considered a skull type that is used to determine the probable soft-tissue reconstruction of discovered human remains. The -oid racial terms are now often controversial in both technical and non-technical contexts and may sometimes give offense no matter how they are used. This is especially true of "Mongoloid" because it has also been used as a synonym for persons with Down Syndrome, and in US English as a generic insult meaning "idiot".

History of the term

Thomas Huxley's map of racial categories from On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind. The Mongoloid group appears orange at what Huxley believed to be its point of origin, and radiates over Asia and America in variant forms, signified by color changes from pale orange to green to green-brown

The term comes from the Mongolian people of East Asia, who had a reputation in Europe for ruthless expansionism and massacre of enemy populations. The "Mongolian" or "yellow race" was defined by Johann Blumenbach to describe the peoples of East Asia. In the nineteenth century Georges Cuvier used the term "Mongolian" again as a racial classification, but additionally included American Indians under the term. Later, Thomas Huxley changed the terminology to Mongoloid and included American Indians but excluded Arctic Native Americans. Other nomenclatures were proposed, such as "Mesochroi", but Mongoloid was widely adopted. In the 20th century, Carleton S. Coon used the term but added on Pacific Islanders into the category.

Geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza found that there is a genetic division between East and Southeast Asians In a like manner, Zhou Jixu agrees that there is a physical difference between these two populations. The complexity of genetic data have led to doubt about the usefulness of the concept of a Mongoloid race itself, since distinctive East Asian features may represent separate lineages and arise from environmental adaptations.

Usage

For the above reasons "Mongoloid" is now used in forensics to define a set of physical traits and is not equivalent to contemporary or historical definitions of racial or social groups. Some current terms for the latter are Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian. Native Americans are sometimes also included in this group[3], but recent evidence shows that Native Americans may have ancestry from all over the globe and not only Northeast Asia.

Down Syndrome

Since people with Down syndrome may appear to have epicanthic folds, the condition was formerly called "Mongol" or "Mongoloid Idiocy" John Langdon Down, for whom the syndrome was named, claimed in his book Observations on the Ethnic Classification of Idiots (1866), that the Mongol-like features represented an alleged evolutionary degeneration when manifested in Caucasoids. Though this view was discounted in the 20th century, the use of the term "Mongoloid" for racial purposes has acquired offensive connotations because of the connection with Downs syndrome.

Features

Skull shape is typically rounder than that of Caucasoids and Negroids, with higher-set cheekbones. Faces are relatively broader and flatter, while noses are typically smaller with lower bridges and minimal projection. Body hair is scarce and sweat glands are also fewer. Nevertheless, differing characteristics from these may also occur.

There is a physical difference between Mongoloids in South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia. The people of East Asia are called "North Mongoloids". Similarly, Southeast Asians are called "South Mongoloids". Ainu people may either be Southern Mongoloids or not. Vikrant Kumar et al. finds that the South Asian Mongoloids in North-East India are of diverse origins.

See also

• Craniofacial anthropometry