A family tree of human classification

Which groups are talked about? The first step of archiving this data by analyzing classification, should be seen as a typology, or the study of types. A typology is the result of the classification of things according to their physical characteristics. From this perspective, the research focuses on an ‘objectified’¹ and quantified categorization of the collection through metadata. This typology aims to understand and clarify the ruling classification that are in play; it not only specifies which groups are signified by De Volkskrant and how these groups are labelled, but also the number of times they are talked about.

A family tree of human classification’ is the result of this first analysis shows the typology I designed of the groups that are defined through the 464 pieces of data by De Volkskrant. Here I chose to let the system of classification follow the traditional lines of color, nationality, ethnicity, geography, direction, religion, gender, sexual preferences, age and class. I also chose to avoid intersectionality, which is debatable as it has a lot of consequences for the data. Take for example this image of a ‘Moroccan-Dutch’ ‘Muslim’ ‘Man’ that celebrates his ‘Homosexuality’ was cast into the group ‘Homo’, that is part of the classification of ‘Sexual Orientation’. I made this executive decision to force myself to designate the prevailing classification (in this case: ‘Homo’) and not have any doublings. By being so rigid it also undermines the complexity of the power relations I am researching. At the same time it shows the flaws in the design of a system that demands us –as humans- to chose sides and forces labels upon us, while we are much more complex than that.

1. With the word objectified I like to emphasize that even though the activity of categorising aims to be as neutral as possible, but can not be seen as objective. Subjectivity plays a role on many levels. First in the daily selection of one article over another. Second, in selecting a particular word from the article which becomes the title of a group (if I had chosen another word the same data would be part of another group and would tell another story). And third: by placing it into these classifications it becomes part of an existing discours that sees these groups through this lens of difference.