A unique investigation into bigotry. The cagots were a group of people now widely forgotten, whose story is full of seemingly unwarranted discrimination. Staffan Scheutz attempts to find a discernible rationalisation for the systemised hatred that the cagots experienced through investigating a variety of claims, including religious affiliations, a supposed history of leprosy, and a distaste towards their profession(s). Demonstrating the flaws in each argument, Scheutz concludes that “[b]y the time people started justifying their hatred in the 1500s, any knowledge of its origin was long since lost.” Read full article here
