Lecture 1: What is race?

race (n): 1. a local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics 2. humanity as a whole 3. a group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality or geographic distribution

race as a modern phenomenon Renaissance or Early Modern period: Rise of secularity Beginning of nation-states Trade and proto-capitalism Circumnavigation of the globe Circumnavigation of the globe  colonialism  solidification of the concepts of racial difference and hierarchy

“The third and last class of barbarians comprises uncounted nations of men in different regions of the New World. It includes savage men like wild beasts, having scarcely anything of human feeling, without law, without a king, without concert, stable magistracy, or organized government, changing their places of residence frequently or having fixed ones which at most resemble the dens of wild animals or enclosures of cattle. Here belong in the first place all the people whom we call Carybes [cannibals], who have no other occupation than cruelty, are ferocious to all strangers, live on human flesh, and wear not garments, scarcely covering their manhood. Aristotle referred to this kind of barbarians when he wrote that they could be hunted like wild beasts and subjugated by force. There are innumerable hordes of such people in the New World, for example the Chunchos, the Chiriguana, the Moxos, and the Iscaycingas, whom we know in Peru as neighbors; also most of the Brazilians and, according to report, the people of nearly the whole of Florida.” - Jose de Acosta, 16 th century Jesuit missionary and naturalist racial difference and colonial power

race as biology? biologically determined vs social construction  there is no scientific grounds to prove that there are multiple human races with naturally different capacities; there is only one human race if racial difference is not real in a scientific sense then how do we come to associate certain races with certain characteristics that in the past and present has come to justify certain forms of treatment for whole groups of people? 19 th century graph comparing European and African skulls 

race as a social concept “Race is indeed a pre-eminently socio-historical concept. Racial categories and the meaning of race are given concrete expressions by specific social relations and historical context in which they are embedded. Racial meanings have varied tremendously over time and between different societies” (Omi and Winant, 11) External physical differences Power relations in society Race is constructed in society through relationships of power and privilege, and power and privilege in society are made possible through the construction of race.

racialization “We employ the term racialization to signify the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice or group. Racialization is an ideological process, an historically specific one. Racial ideology is constructed from pre-existing conceptual (or, if one prefers, discursive) elements and emerges from the struggles of competing political projects and ideas seeking to articulate similar elements differently” (14)  What is an ideology?  a systematic body of concepts or ideas believed to truthfully explain how the world operates or should operate  ex: capitalist versus communist ideology ideology racial difference

racial formations “The meaning of race is defined and contested throughout society, in both collective action and personal practice. In the process, racial categories themselves are formed, transformed, destroyed and reformed. We use the term racial formation to refer to the process by which social, economic and political forces determine the content and importance of racial categories, and by which they are in turn shaped by racial meanings.” (12) racial meanings social, political, economic forces

from slavery to Jim Crow to Civil Rights

final points According to Omi and Winant:  ideas of racial difference are not biologically determined; they are social constructions  these ideas of racial difference strengthen and are strengthened by social, economic and political forces  the feedback loop  race is an unstable formation that is constantly challenged but still has serious consequences on the lives of people who are racialized  people can both change and be changed by the concept of race  racial formations  race vs ethnicity = imposing of categories vs self- identification

Questions for our class  How do our authors challenge, change, conform to the dominant ideas about race at their time?  What are the social, economic and political forces that are determining and being determined by the racial meanings explored in each reading?  How is the idea of race affected by ideas about nationality, gender or class?  How are the ideas about race in our texts similar to and/or different from our understanding of current racial meanings?

homework me a question about the essay by Thurs 6pm that can be discussed in Friday’s class.   What was confusing? What needs clarification and why?  What did you find interesting? How and why would you like to explore a point further?  What did you disagree with and why?