Diasporic Identities: The Science and Politics of Race in the Work of Franz Boas and W. E. B. Du Bois, 1894-1919 Julia E. Liss Department of History Scripps College In February 1995, researchers at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meetings announced, according to a report in the L os Angeles Times, that the concept of race . .. has no basis in fundamental human biology (Hotz 1995b:Al). At a moment when debates about multiculturalism, affirmative action, and racial and ethnic differences and identities occupy much time and space in public discourse in the United States, scientists question the very categories these arguments presuppose. The scientific case against race has been building quietly among population geneticists and anthropologists for more than a decade, a follow-up article declared (Hotz 1995a: Al). For a good 100 years, however, scientists and scholars—anthropologists and activists among them—have waged their own battle against the scientific underpinnings of racial thought, in much the same terms as today's challenge. Academic proclamations notwithstanding, it is clear that the social and political meanings of race have not lost their currency. The connection of past debates with present-day co ntroversies has not gone without notice. Franz Boas has made cameo appearances in recent discussions about race and culture, nature and nurture (Degler 1991:61-83; Ehrenreich and Mclntosh 1997:12; Freeman 1983:19-33; Tucker 1994:91, 138, 149, 155, 158-159, 165), and has been the subject of increasing interest in his own right (Hyatt 1990; Liss 1995, 1996; Stocking 1996; Williams 1996). For his part, W. E. B. Du Bois has garnered a stunning amount of attention (Bell et al. 1996; Du Bois 1986a; Early 1993; Gooding-Williams 1994; Harrison 1992; Harrison
