Exclure, asservir, purifier

The invention by Western science (natural sciences, anthropology, eugenics) of the concept of race made possible three mental operations—exclude, enslave, purify—which were applied to the management of human populations, paving the way for crimes and genocides in colonial empires and fascism. By examining the social uses of these mental operations in the modern world, this article seeks to grasp the epistemological obstacles and the mythological and religious backgrounds that allowed such a concept to be invented.