Suchergebnisse

Examines 3 novels dealing with the experiences of black men in London in the 1930s. Common themes are racial prejudice and loneliness, culminating in tragedy. Suggests a line of enquiry that might be pursued more systematically in the case of other novels bearing on black-white relations in this period.

International law proteting human rights has grown since 1945. The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1965. In a program against apartheid, it launched a first (1973-1983) & then a second (1983-1993) Decade for Action to Combat Racism & Racial Discrimination (in the course of which Zionism was condemned). Underlying the Convention was a model of racial discrimination as a kind of unlawful behavior. Underlying subsequent discussion has been a model of racism as a social pathology associated with particular political structures, eg, those of colonialism. This second model has proven of greater rheotrical power. As concern about apartheid diminishes, the focus of attention may move back to the comprehensive definition of racial discrimination embodied in the Convention & its reporting obligation. AA

The classification of homo sapiens into varieties was a feature of eighteenth-century national history, and must be seen in that context. The use of the word 'race', came into greatly increased use in English, French and other West European languages, in the 1850's. Argues that the idea of classifying race became popular for two important reasons: (1) race became associated with that of nation and it proved useful to nineteenth-century nationalist movements; (2) throughout the nineteenth-century evolutionary thought was gathering strength, receiving a major boost from Darwin and Herbert Spencer. (AM)

New Commonwealth immigration became an electoral issue in the early 1960s. Some writers have referred to it as a racial issue, which is questionable. Interpretations from conservative, liberal and radical standpoints are compared. The evidence from opinion polls may be seen as expressing either racialism or social distance. It is difficult to determine when the issue came to an end. On one view it has changed character and continues. New electoral issues could be given a racial twist. (Original abstract)