Homo Sapiens. Classifying the Human Animal | Launch and Panel Discussion

This is an in-person event only. There is no live stream.

(The talk will be followed by a drinks reception and chance to see the exhibition in our historic library, where a paid bar will be available.)

In 1735, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus published the first edition of his seminal classification work Systema naturae. In the Kingdom of Animals, Linnaeus included humans, which he divided into four varieties according to geographical origin and skin colour. Linnaeus refined his classification of humans over the next two decades, publishing a much more developed classification in the tenth edition of Systema naturae (1758). This work has had fundamental consequences in the emergence of the concept of race, and the ways in which we understand and conceptualise differences between humans.

As a copy of the tenth edition of Systema naturae is displayed in the V&A East’s exhibition The Music is Black. A British History, the Linnean Society’s exhibition Homo sapiens. Classifying the Human Animal explores Linnaeus’ classification of humans and its legacies.

This launch event will feature an introduction to the exhibition by the Society’s Head of Collections Isabelle Charmantier, followed by a panel discussion with members of the curatorial advisory board Gus Casely-Hayford, Subhadra Das, Staffan Müller-Wille, and Jake Richards.

Panel

Dr Gus Casely-Hayford is a curator and cultural historian, and the inaugural Director of V&A East.

Dr Isabelle Charmantier is Head of Collections at the Linnean Society.

Subhadra Das is a writer and historian who looks at the relationship between science and society.

Prof. Staffan Müller-Wille is Professor in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences at the University of Cambridge

Dr Jake Subryan Richards is a historian of the Atlantic world and global history at the London School of Economics.

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Concessions

Please buy the concession ticket if you are:

• 65 years of age, or over
• Under 26 years of age
• Currently in receipt of UK government benefit (including, but not limited to, Income Based Jobseeker's Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Housing Benefit, and Universal Credit).
• Currently in full-time education.

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This is an in-person event at the Linnean Society of London on Piccadilly, London, only.

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