What is it about?
The piece critically reviews Christopher Hutton's book "The People That Never Were: Linguistic Scholarship and the Invention of the Aryans" (2025).
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Why is it important?
Professor Hutton's scholarship in the last two decades has significantly contributed to understanding of Nazi "Aryanism". Importanyl, it proposed a radical thesis about modern linguistics as being at the heart of the 19th century mode racist thinking that Nazis only developed. However, I suggest that this book does not yet prove this thesis. I highlight some weak spots in Hutton's approach and argumentation, especially deconstructivist fallacies, which assume that only because something was "invented", it must be deemed false.
Perspectives
The review invites for further investigation on the role of language in racist ideologies. The key question is: had modern linguistics laid the groundwork for the most reprehensible forms of 20th century racism, or has it only been manipulated by racists to serve its ends? This is a question of extreme importance for linguists and all humanities scholars to reflect on, as it opens questions such as: what is the political and practical importance of our research? What effects might it have on society?
Vuk Vukotić
Vilniaus Universitetas
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This page is a summary of: Review of Hutton (2025): The People That Never Were: Linguistic Scholarship and the Invention of the Aryans, Historiographia Linguistica, November 2025, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/hl.00187.vuk.
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