Anti-Racism (Key Ideas)

211 Pages·2000·0.94 MB·English

by  Alastair Bonnett

ANTI-RACISM
Anti-racism has without doubt become a powerful component
of modern society but, unlike its counter-discourses of racism
and ethnic hatred, has remained curiously inconspicuous as a
subject of social and historical analysis. This introductory text
provides students for the first time with a historical and
international analysis of the development of anti-racism.
Drawing on sources from around the world, the author explains
the roots and describes the practice of anti-racism in Western
and non-Western societies from Britain and the United States
to Malaysia and Brazil.
Topics covered include:
• the historical roots of anti-racism
• the relationship between nationalism, capitalism and anti-
racism
• the practice of anti-racism
• the theoretical and political dilemmas of anti-racism
• the politics of backlash
This lively, concise book will be an indispensable resource for
all students interested in issues of ‘race’ and ethnicity and in
contemporary society more generally.
Alastair Bonnett is Lecturer in Geography at the University
of Newcastle upon Tyne.
KEY IDEAS
SERIES EDITOR: PETER HAMILTON, THE OPEN
UNIVERSITY, MILTON KEYNES
Designed to complement the successful Key Sociologists, this
series covers the main concepts, issues, debates, and
controversies in sociology and the social sciences. The series
aims to provide authoritative essays on central topics of social
science, such as community, power, work, sexuality,
inequality, benefits and ideology, class, family, etc. Books
adopt a strong individual ‘line’ constituting original essays
rather than literary surveys, and form lively and original
treatments of their subject matter. The books will be useful to
students and teachers of sociology, political science,
economics, psychology, philosophy, and geography.
Class
STEPHEN EDGELL
Consumption
ROBERT BOCOCK
Culture
CHRIS JENKS
Globalization
MALCOLM WATERS
Lifestyle
DAVID CHANEY
Mass Media
PIERRE SORLIN
Moral Panics
KENNETH THOMPSON
Postmodernity
BARRY SMART
Racism
ROBERT MILES
iii
Risk
DEBORAH LUPTON
Sexuality
JEFFREY WEEKS
The Symbolic Construction of Community
ANTHONY P.COHEN
ANTI-RACISM
Alastair Bonnett
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2000
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or
Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to
www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2000 Alastair Bonnett
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bonnett, Alastair, 1964–
Anti-racism/Alastair Bonnett
(Key Ideas)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Racism. 2. Race relations. 3. Race awareness.
4. Pluralism (social sciences). 5. Equality. 6. Multicultural education.
I. Title. II. Series.
HT1523.B64 1999 99–32882
305.8–dc21 CIP
ISBN 0-203-97609-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-17119-9 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-17120-2 (pbk)
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii
Introduction 1
1 Roots of resistance: the antecedents and 9
ambivalences of anti-racism
Introduction 9
Relativism, universalism and the idea of prejudice 11
in Western thought
Resisting, adapting and engaging Western racism 24
Conclusion 45
2 Claiming equality: nations, capitalism and 47
anti-racism
Introduction 47
National and international claims to anti-racism 48
National traditions of anti-racism? 51
International anti-racism: context and cases 66
Market anti-racism? 74
Conclusion 84
3 Practising anti-racism 87
Introduction 87
Everyday anti-racism 88
vii
Multicultural anti-racism: affirming diversity, 93
enabling empathy
Psychological anti-racism: raising consciousness, 100
affirming identities
Radical anti-racism 107
Anti-Nazi and anti-fascist anti-racism 111
Anti-racism and the representative organisation 114
Conclusion 118
4 Anti-racist dilemmas 121
Introduction 121
Anti-racism and ethnicity 122
Anti-racism and feminism 132
Anti-racism and essentialism 137
Anti-racism and white identities 143
Conclusion 150
5 Anti-anti-racism? 153
Introduction 153
The right versus anti-racism 155
The left versus anti-racism 168
Conclusion 174
6 Conclusion 177
BIBLIOGRAPHY 181
INDEX 197
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Mari Shullaw at Routledge for her patience and
support for this project.
INTRODUCTION
Anti-racism appears to have a double life. If one were foolish
enough to believe everything that was said on the topic, one
would be forced to conclude that it is both extraordinarily rare
and all-pervasive, simultaneously integral to capitalist
modernisation and a harbinger of Marxist revolution. Adding
to the sense of confusion that surrounds the subject, debate on
anti-racism is often confined to the level of polemic. I have
heard anti-racism being celebrated as ‘essential’ and
‘necessary’, as well as being attacked as ‘politically correct
nonsense’, even as ‘evil’. Adding bewilderment to confusion,
the latter epithets all arose from people who prefaced their
remarks by claiming to oppose, even to ‘hate’, racism.
Although such polemical perspectives may have strategic,
political justifications, their domination of the subject has
made it difficult to approach anti-racism with the historical and
sociological seriousness it deserves. This is particularly
apparent when we contrast the treatment researchers have
accorded racism and anti-racism. The myriad ways people
racially exclude and oppress each other have been plotted,
often with considerable care, many times. The development of
societies riven by race and ethnicity is an issue that has
attracted attention, attention that has contributed to social
change. Whatever reasons may be offered for the consideration
paid to the nature of oppression and exclusion and the minimal
effort made in understanding the forces of equality, it is clear
that an imbalance has been created. Racism and ethnic
discriminations are under continuous historical and sociological