Suchergebnisse

Critical remarks are offered on the contributions to this volume (see abstracts in IRPS No. 88), discussing the potential gains & dangers of the currently popular emphasis on the historically & socially constructed nature of racism. Although researchers & theorists of social science have aptly traced the foundations of racist discourse back to its Enlightenment essentialist roots, it is suggested that historical constituents of antiracist discourse have not been similarly examined. The Enlightenment struggle toward classification of all objects & beings into a continuum of existence linking humanity to God informed & legitimized the existence & importance of racial categorization. However, John Locke's (among others) rejection of this essentialism was founded in a form of cultural nominalism, & these antiessentialist principles provided the framework for the Enlightenment grammar of antiracism. It is concluded that the current trend of antirealism characterized by the absence of the subject in cultural discourse has undermined the value of the subjective experiences of the victims of racism at a time when this subjectivity is most important. T. Sevier

The historical & social context of racism is discussed in an examination of the evolution & nature of racist discourse. It is argued that a critical theory of racism must universally recognize, account for, & oppose every manifestation of racism. Such a theory demands understanding of the complex set of central constitutive elements that shape racism & are reinterpreted as the historical, cultural & social environment changes. It is suggested that the discursive field of racism is broad enough to encompass the diverse variables & outcomes that characterize racism, including beliefs, verbal outbursts, physical acts & their consequences, the principles of racism, & racist texts. Examination of racist discourse moves away from the dominant modes of analyzing racism in the social sciences, which often reinforce racism through the acceptance of categories of race & racial difference. Although racist cruelty has been legally abolished in most developed nations, indirect legal & extralegal means of racial oppression still thrive. It is concluded that the opposition of racist discourse & practice involves the transformation of socioeconomic & formal structural determinants of race, & the formation of discursive alternatives in opposition to racism. T. Sevier