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lecture notes racism in the western world
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lecture notes racism in the western world
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Samenvatting Racism - A Short History, ISBN: 9780691116525 Racism in the Western World (GE2V16006)
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Lecture 01 (week 1)Contemporary racial problems are only possible to be understood with the
context of history. For example imperialism, slavery etcetera.
The idea of race are context and time specific. The category of race is fluid, so it
has different elements like religion, culture, skin-color etcetera.
Race is a social and historical construct with NO scientific foundation, therefore it
is fluid. The idea of race has tried to denote different ‘types’ of humans.
Physiological en cultural distinction is tried to be based on biological hereditary
“facts”.
Medieval period
Race is seen as lineage or ‘descent’. The purity of blood decides your race.
Religion was crucial is shaping racism. Later on with the Iberian expansion the
idea of race was applied to Africans and native Americans as well. Religion was
crucial in shaping racial prejudices and discrimination. This came from biblical
justification in the form of for example the story of the Curse of Canaan (Black is
bad, white is good). This religion justification and the frame of reference stayed
until the enlightenment.
Modern period late 1900s
‘scientific racism’ (phrenology?) was a way to categorize different looking people.
This was a way to justify racism with biological science, like physical appearance,
behaviour, culture etcetera. Races had different capacities according to hierarchy
where some where superior to others.
Political/economic context of racial classification (the importance of slavery) –
Enlightenment
We cannot talk about race without talking about slavery. At the time there was
no relation between blackness and inferiority, because the European powers had
to have respect for the African authority and local cultural practices in order to
carry out the slave trade. But it played a role in the attitude to blackness and
inferiority, especially when there became laws in place. The birth of slave society
is to keep the slave system in place and to produce a racialised way of thinking.
Intellectual/scientific context of racial classification - Enlightenment
François Bernier was an important contributor to racial classification and how
race is seen nowadays. He represents a transition from sacred history
(religious/bible) to natural history (environmentalism).
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Come de Buffon: climate is the primary cause of racial
difference, but culture also plays a role (environmentalism). He tries to explain
varieties in humanity with the idea of monogenism.
Yet he did believe that non-whites had to try to be like white people, when it
comes to intelligence ( culturalist).
Lecture 02 (week 3, France)
Republican universalism
, The republican universalism is an ideal/myth that grew out of the revolution
which holds that all of French subjects have the potential to be free and equal
members of society with full citizenship rights. Yet this was not realised, because
under citizen they only meant white, Christian males.
- Women did play a role in marches (like in Versailles): Declaration of the
Rights of Man and the Citizen, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Woman
and the Female Citizen, 1791, Olympe de Gouges.
- Slaves and people of color
o Haitian revolution (Saint Domingue), 1798
- Jews and non-Christians
o Clermont-Tonnerre
- Your (group) identity must be French ONLY
After the Haitians won independence, Napoleon reinstated slavery. By celebrating
Napoleon as a hero, it diminishes France imperialism and colonialism
(https://twitter.com/F24Debate/status/1391835360746000385). The issue of
racialization and race still impacts France, which is because of the history of
slavery. Slavery was based on racialization and race. These racialized ideas
found their way in public education.
See PPT and lecture for case study (IAM).
Lecture 03 (week 4, USA)
Origins of colonisation and slavery
The slaves that were brought to the Americas and the Caribbean were made to
work on the plantations. This was an economic enterprise which had social
consequences.
With the Declaration of Independence (1776) the idea was stated that all men
are created equal. But this was not true in reality considering the slave trade.
However in 1787 the US constitution accepted slavery but abolished international
slave trade in 1808 which turned into a domestic slave trade.
The US was divided in two parts: East (slave state) and West (free state). In the
North they argued that slavery should be abolished. This anti was sustained by
media. The South formulated anti-abolitionism. They depicted slavery as
something positive, just part of the Southern culture, revolt from slaves will
destroy white people (massacres) if slavery is abolished, and supported those
ideas with the bible. Abolitionism translated into politics, in the form of the
Republican Party in 1854.
The American Civil War
Lincoln tried to save the union first and then slavery during The Civil War. He
wanted to contain slavery, but not make new slaves or abolish slavery. In the
middle of the Civil War Lincoln stance on slavery changed Emancipation
Proclamation (1863). He made the Southern states liberate the slaves as a war
measure. Therefore Lincoln is called the Great Emancipator.
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