Racism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Racism: A Very Short Introduction [Ali Rattansi] on leondumoulin.nl *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. From subtle discrimination in everyday life, to horrors like.
Table of contents

This led to the mania for classifying stuff Noah, Linnaeus, Darwin, etc. Establishing categories is tough. But then, having got all this down, in nice neat lists, by the early 20th century, there came the modern desire to break it all down again , and disassemble all the hardwon clear lines — deconstructionists tear holes in texts and in readers, quantum physicists use the erasers on the end of their pencils to blur the boundaries between matter and time and yoghurt, and so on until as your man Marx said all that is solid melts into air. So it goes with the idea of race.

The human biologists and anthropologists of the 19th century built up many different taxonomies of race, all of which have been thrown in the Dumpster of Obsolete Ideas: Even self-confessed racists appear to have as little agreement about how many races exist and how exactly they are to be differentiated. He says that if that rule applied the other way round, that if there was one drop of white blood in you, you were white, there would be very few black people left in America. He was born in England, and his parents came here two or three years before the creation of the state of Pakistan in But of course there is such a thing as racism.

For a start, it makes the term racism a nonsense. That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. After dismantling race, Rattansi then trains his argument on racists. To be racist, you have to feel firstly that you yourself have an identity, individual and collective, which you consider different from other particular individuals. So far so obvious — the racist thing is to discriminate between one group yours and another. Rattansi tells us that the further we look at individual psychology, the more identity becomes difficult to grasp.

You have multiple identities, not one. You may be a wife, mother, sister, daughter, Christian, adulterer, Greek-American, country music fan, blah blah, all in one person. Identities are rarely coherent and integrated. They are prone to inconsistency and contradiction.

The different identities we have can involve different behaviours and moralities. We can see this in the bizarre lives led by concentration camp commandants, who led exemplary and affectionate family lives in houses within the grounds of the camps where thousands were dying every day.

Development: A Very Short Introduction

The multiplicity of identities of individuals as well as the resulting de-centredness of their subjectivity is such that individuals are not always fully knowledgeable about the layers of identification in their makeup, nor in control of their responses, so that they may end up behaving in a manner they abhor and have long tried to avoid.

But he quotes the following statistic: In Bel Air a wealthy neighbourhood it was 1 to This was the education system which led directly to creation of the nationalist movement and the overthrow of British rule. The British were interpreted right out of India. And what about the whole Islamophobia debate — is that racism? Rattansi quotes the case of a white British guy previously married to a Chinese woman, currently living with a Jamaican woman, and waging a violent one-man bomb-throwing war against the local mosque.

I would like to point out the rise and fall in local elections here of the British National Party, and the egregious slimebags in the English Defence League. Or how the British census, by trying to find out where public resources are most needed to combat institutionalised racism, perpetuates racist thinking by its insistence that everyone is categorised "White: But I have detained you too long.

This is a very thought-provoking introduction to a fearsomely complex problem which will not be going away any time soon. View all 24 comments. Jun 11, Ahmad Sharabiani marked it as to-read Shelves: A Very Short Introduction Very Short Introductions , Ali Rattansi From subtle discrimination in everyday life, to horrors like lynching in the Old South, cultural imperialism, and "ethnic cleansing," racism exists in many different forms, in almost every facet of society.

Racism: A Very Short Introduction

Apr 19, Vanshika Prusty rated it it was amazing. I think this was brilliant, well thought out, and the argument presented was backed up by facts and articulate in conveying its message. I have my disagreements with the text, thus the removed. Rattansi acknowledges the limitations they face in writing this, and throughout the book, gives information on how to combat the lack of 4.

Rattansi acknowledges the limitations they face in writing this, and throughout the book, gives information on how to combat the lack of information, and lack of rigid definitions when it comes to the multitudinous discourse on racism-be it racism thats implicit, explicit, institutional, etc. Not a light read, as I did read it for class, but one I'd recommend regardless to anyone looking for more information on the social discourse, and economics of racism. Especially teenagers, people around my age of , looking for more information to understand where they stand in political discourses.

Ali Rattansi

Jul 10, Cynthia rated it it was amazing. Incredible, I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the past and present history of "race. You may send this item to up to five recipients. The name field is required.


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Racism: A Very Short Introduction - Very Short Introductions

Your rating has been recorded. Write a review Rate this item: Preview this item Preview this item. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, Very short introductions , English View all editions and formats Summary: Racism exists in many different forms, in almost every facet of society. This Very Short Introduction demystifies the subject and explores its history, science, and culture. Shedding light on how racism has evolved since its earliest beginnings, and examining the notion of race from a modern genetic viewpoint, Ali Rattansi considers the numerous embodiments of racism - from ethnic cleansing and cultural imperialism to discrimination in politics and everyday life.

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Allow this favorite library to be seen by others Keep this favorite library private. Find a copy in the library Finding libraries that hold this item His publications include Racism, Modernity and Identity: On the Western Front co-edited with S. Inequalities, Opportunities and Policies with P. Special Features Takes a frank and objective look at how and why racial prejudices and stereotypes are deeply embedded in Western culture. Guides the reader through the confusion that surrounds the meaning of the word racism, and how it differs from ethnocentrism, nationalism, and xenophobia.

Examines how the scientific validity of 'race' has been comprehensively undermined by modern genetic science. Uses important historical examples as well as up-to-date cases, from the British Empire to the American civil rights movement and the Macpherson Report on 'institutional racism' in the London Metropolitan Police.

A Very Short Introduction: