Abstract

While skin color represents one of the most common markers of humans, the theories that explain it remain largely unknown both in academia and industry. Meanwhile, fraught with theoretical shortcomings about skin color, as clear from its body of knowledge, racial studies has not addressed skin color with needed attention. Consequently, misconceptions about human skin color have proliferated. This paper discusses anew Gloger’s theory and its widespread impact in the social sciences and general public. Gloger explained dark skin by heat. Not surprisingly, dark skin is believed to be the product of and response to ultra violet radiation in Equatorial Africa. One reason might be the fixation of the debate on the white-black binary. Another reason might be the commonplace belief about the African heat. The present paper calls into question the Equator-Africa presentation of black skin. To this end, the paper situates the debate in the broader spectrum of social science disciplines, and investigates the ways in which black skin is presented. The paper advocates for the consideration of skin complexity and of minorities in the field of skin color. The goal is to work toward a deeper understanding of others and their traits, with a view to raise awareness among policy makers, the general public, and social science experts. The paper takes an encyclopedic approach to best cater to these audiences.

Keywords:

Africa, black skin, caucasian , equator, Gloger, minorities, pigmentation,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

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Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.