Modeling Man: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Statistics

• In Event: 21055 - Decolonizing and Intersectionalizing the Canon

Abstract

With a foothold in Black studies, one major intellectual tradition concerning Du Bois relates to the question of what it means to be human, and another major area is Duboisian sociology which emphasizes Du Bois's contributions to statistical methods. This paper explores the intersection of these two dimensions of Du Bois’s work: his theory of the human, and his statistical methodology. These areas are infrequently thought about together, with some exceptions like the work of Tukufu Zuberi. This paper asks: How do the mechanics of Du Bois’s statistical work relate to the question of the human? How does Du Bois approach statistics’ assumption of a normative human in his use of concepts suggesting proportion like the talented tenth, submerged tenth, and guiding hundredth? In other words, how are we to understand Du Bois’s thought when we consider the mechanics of his statistical work and not only the fact of their existence? This has not been adequately addressed by either of these two areas of thought, which largely occupy separate intellectual spaces due in part to the difference in discipline and method that each of the two areas come out of. But if their insights are brought together, a more specific set of questions becomes possible, which echoes Du Bois’s own questions and allows us to build on his work: how do we go about knowing the human?

Author

• Atiya Husain, Williams College