Anthropology and Equality

Type: Multiple choice (A–D)
Focus: Comprehension of ideas, inference, author attitude, and figurative meaning.
Level: C2 (Proficient User – CEFR)
Time: 20–25 minutes

This C2 Reading lesson challenges students to engage with a sophisticated academic text exploring how Anténor Firmin, a 19th-century Haitian scholar, used science to dismantle racial hierarchies within early anthropology.
Learners analyze nuanced viewpoints, interpret implicit meaning, and evaluate the relationship between evidence, ideology, and scientific progress.

🧠 Skills Developed

• Critical reading and inference: distinguishing explicit facts from implied attitudes.

• Interpretation of author’s tone and purpose: recognizing irony, objectivity, and moral reasoning.

• Lexical awareness: identifying advanced collocations and topic-specific terminology (e.g., racial hierarchies, empirical reasoning, scientific rigor, bias, canon, hierarchy, empiricism).

• Synthesis and evaluation: connecting historical context to modern scientific ethics and equality debates.