William Montague Cobbs Representations Article

REPRESENTATIONS ARTICLE (WILLIAM MONTAGUE COBBS)

Representations Article (William Montague Cobbs)

This representation will highlight the achievements and ideas of William Montague Cobbs. William Montague Cobbs was a renowned and distinguished physical anthropologist and anatomist who began his work at Howard University as an assistant professor in the field of anatomy (Blaky and Watkins 842). He was a prolific activist whose works led to the establishment of Medicare in the U.S. In addition, he led organizations that advocated for equal medical education and desegregation of hospitals (Blaky and Watkins 842). It would be prudent to note that William Montague Cobbs had a background in biological anthropology – which further underlined his nonracialized appreciation of human biodiversity.

Cobbs’ works in activism and scholarship influenced researchers in the public health and physicians in medical careers. His work also made a major contribution in physical anthropology through an early incarnation of biological and cultural factors in humans (Blakey and Wtkins 842). In his view, successful activists acquire the necessary resources that are likely to come in handy in anatomical science. This is more so the case when it comes to challenging baseless racist assertions (Blacky and Watkins 842-843). As a founder of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Cobbs was able to make thorough survey of collections in anatomy.

Cobbs also authored more than 1100 publications in physical anthropology and medical histories. For instance, as Blaky and Watkins point out, in one of his articles on “Race and Runners” (in 1936), Cobb sought to disprove the notion that the broad jumpers and sphincters were stronger owing to a reduced intelligence of the African Americans (Cobbs 1). Essentially, assertions in the press suggested that the success of the broad jumpers and the American Negro sphincters were due to their strong tendons and long heel bone. It is important to note that Cobbs refuted comments that Jesse Owens was superior to the African Americans when he won the Olympics in 1936 - which he had won in four previous Olympics. On this front, Williams Cobb used various physical attributes which he had observed when watching the Olympics. The observed physical attributes were in prominent display and actively involved in jumping and running efforts. In this case, it was possible to demonstrate that differences seen in the Olympics were not related to race (Cobbs 6). As a consequence, it became apparent that no physical feature can identify people with their racial identities as sphincters and jumpers are selected based on their uniqueness to a certain sport.

William Montague Cobbs, like other anthropologists, also delved on various issues related to religion. In the past, anthropologists have explored the diversity of religions so as to avoid comparisons that may arise when focusing on various religions. To avoid the said comparisons, anthropologists emphasize on diversity that is found in distinct religions in terms of their culture (Hausner 482). In essence, different religions have different cultures and would therefore have a different look in their specific context. There are also those who have in the past argued that under a single rubric of a specific religion, that there would be a sense of meaning or practice to emerge from, or belong to a specific category of religion such as Christianity or Buddhist (Hausner 483). With such form of belonging which may be seen as a unitary identity, people may attempt to display differences within the said religions in the same way that physicists do when they retract bands of light that are contained in one stream of light. Therefore, the differences in rubric gives rise to anthropology of religion (Hausner 484).