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

Considers possible explanations for women's lack of influence on politics, particularly regarding war & peace. Evidence is given for the problematic nature of lumping women into one category for political purposes. Does the size of a minority, in this case, women, matter? Kanter's observations on the relative proportion of women to uniform, skewed, tilted, or balanced groups are included. A challenge stems from Hacker's writing on the "minority status" of women despite their placement or numerical representation in organizations. The potential impact of greater female involvement in decision making is viewed in terms of female politicians' potency, reactions to female politicians, political culture, the historic omission of women from political discourse, & policy changes. Also considered are critical mass, female or gender-neutral quotas, & quota systems in legislation & political parties. Examples from the Danish Social Democratic Party, the Norwegian Labor Party, & the Swedish Social Democratic Party are included, & suggestions are offered for more gender-sensitive platforms. M. C. Leary

Draws upon Franklin D. Roosevelt's "four freedoms" & Jacques Derrida's concern with the great classical discourse of emancipation to reflect on the key role emancipation plays in critical security studies (CSS). The focus is on the need to rethink the basic concepts of security & emancipation in order to find ways to develop emancipatory themes within critical approaches to security. In spite of different approaches in the CSS project, it is maintained that there is a universal emancipatory concern with freedom from exploitation & repression combined with ideas about human self-realization & community-building. Suggestions are offered for "epistemologically & ontologically sensitive ways in which the reshapings of collective memories & imagined futures can be emancipatory." The related issue of politically motivated & self-serving retellings of the past is discussed & retellings of Japanese & US history are used to illustrate how the role of violence in inter-community relationships can be transformed. Emphasis is placed on the ability to link culturally sensitive concepts of emancipation to researchable, equally sensitive conceptions of existential security. References. J. Lindroth

The literature of the last decade in the field of critical white studies has expanded from challenges to white supremacy by male social scientists of color to expositions of institutionalized racism in literature, philosophy, communications, & the media. White studies has also entered formerly uncharted arenas such as racial ideology, relations between race & social control, whiteness as identity, & the legal construction of whiteness in the US. Women's studies has injected white patriarchy into analyses of white privilege, while the multicultural education movement that emerged in the 1980s introduced a focus on the complexity of relationships among African Americans, Latino/as, Asian Americans, & whites. The intersections between intellectual movements of cultural studies, critical communication studies, & semiotics are examined. It is contended here that most public/popular discourse is still framed in white-nonwhite terms, making it essential to understand how communication about whiteness is embedded in the social fabric to begin the process of destabilizing whiteness as an identity & ideology. Bibliog, 34 References. J. Lindroth