Africoid
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Africoid, is a term used to refer to black, African peoples the world over. It is often used as an alternative to the more limited Negroid, which confines itself to the classic phenotype of equatorial Africans, which includes dolicocephalism, broad facial features, woolly hair and maxillary and/or alveolar prognathism.
[edit] An inclusive term
A broader term, Africoid is used to describe or refer to some peoples traditionally known as black whom some anthropologists have termed Caucasoid, Capoid, Australoid (also known as Veddoid when applied to Southeast Asians), or Sudroid, because of certain faciocranial characteristics, chief among them limited or nonexistent prognathism (in the case of blacks whom some have termed "Caucasoid"), a brachycephalic cranium (in the case of Capoid blacks), or hair which is relatively straight and finer in texture (in the case of, again, some "Caucasoid", Sudroid, Veddoid, and Australoid blacks).
For example, some Ethiopians, Eritreans, and Somalis (the last group known in antiquity as Nubians) do not exhibit certain classic Negroid traits, while others of their compatriates do. Such variations, in fact, often occur within nuclear family groups. It has been argued that such phenotypical variations are inherent to Africoid peoples, much as there are broad variations in physical stature and body proportions between the Pygmies of the Congo, who generally reach a height of 4.5 feet, and of the Tutsi of East Africa, whose average height is 6.5 feet and who are described as gracile, or gracefully slender. Similarly, other black African peoples commonly considered Negroid, such as the Senegalese also may lack alveolar prognathism.
Additionally, other indigenous, black African peoples exhibit other physical characteristics beyond the scope of the classic Negroid phenotype, including relatively narrow nasal indices and epicanthic eyefolds.
Afrocentrists have observed that Caucasoid is applied inconsistently and challenge as eurocentric and inappropriate the use of a term which contains a European geographic referrent to refer to indigenous, black Africans. Further, they argue that the term is misleading and that, as a result, it erroneously has been conflated by some to mean non-black or even white — despite the fact that so-called Caucasoid indigenous African blacks range from brown to blue-black in skin tone. This is also the case with some "Caucasoid" peoples of the Indian subcontinent, whom some Afrocentrists regard as Africoid, as well.
Afrocentrists contend that affixing the Caucasoid label to African peoples runs counter to phenotypical naming conventions, which historically have associated peoples with their geographic points of origin. They, therefore, have been the chief proponents and users of the term Africoid as a more accurate, inclusive and all-encompassing term for the indigenous black peoples of the African continent and the African diaspora.
