niggerology

English

Etymology

From nigger +‎ -ology.

Noun

niggerology (uncountable)

1. (pseudoscience, offensive) The study of black people, especially when isolated as a problem group.
   • 1970, Sidney Fine, Gerald Saxon Brown, The American past: conflicting interpretations of great issues:

     Josiah Nott, readying one of his broadsides for publication, wrote: "All the articles I have written on niggerology have been eagerly sought for at the South, and in the present excited state of the political world, I think the thing will go well.

   • 1996, Charles Eric Lincoln, Coming Through the Fire: Surviving Race and Place in America, →ISBN, page 30:

     Mr. Martin could not imagine life without niggers, and since they were inevitable, he considered it a matter of common expedience to know what to expect of them. Hence, he had developed his own science of niggerology, which he used like an Etruscan bed, lopping off some here, stretching some there to achieve a common fit for all.

   • 2003, Eva Rutland, No Crystal Stair, →ISBN, page 313:

     I thought your major was political science, not niggerology!"

   • 2007, Jabari Asim, The N Word: Who Can Say It, who Shouldn't, and why, →ISBN, page 53:

     In the year of the Dred Scott decision, the bookselling concession at a Nott lecture offered one-stop shopping for anyone with an interest in niggerology.

2. The life knowledge gained by growing up as a black person.
   • 2002, African American Review, page 81:

     I know you bout to go to college and all and think you smart, but remember, I grew up in the projects. I know how you think and how he thinks. I have a degree in niggerology.

   • 2007, Kent B. Germany, New Orleans After the Promises, →ISBN:

     In 1971, a Thugs United newspaper described Carmouche as a “Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of the Streets, where he earned a bachelor's degree in niggerology and streetology” and a “a masters degree in common sinces [sic].

   • 2007, MINISTER X, I Swear to Tell the Truth: So Help Me God, →ISBN, page 191:

     I specialize in the plight of my people or niggerology.

Derived terms

• niggerologist