Race - the Floating Signifier
Stuart Hall Race -- the Floating Signifier
directed by Sut Jally, Media Education Foundation, 1997
Classification and power work together.
Classification maintains the order in any system.
We cannot think without classification.
The survival of biological thinking
Race is one of the major concepts which organize the great classification systems (including gender and class) which operate in human societies. Classification seems basic to human thinking. What is the right strategy for an anti-racist politics? Just being "black" does not guarantee that your politics will be correct. In order to find a politics that will end racism, "You can't just say, well black people are doing such and such and they must be right." I want to discuss an approach to the political. There are no guarantees. Failure is always possible. You must do "right" because there is no guarantee ethically and theoretically that your position is "right."
Race is a discursive construct.
Despite the fact that scientists have agreed that biological race does not exist, race thinking of all sorts persists. Why is this? This is the subject of this lecture. Some people believe that all that can usefully be said about race has already been said.
If the biological concept of race cannot hold water, we must resort to a socio-cultural concept of race. W.E. B. Du Bois told us that racial differences are impossible to corellate with intelligence, personality, etc. Nevertheless, race persists and Du Bois argues that color is important as a badge of the social heritage and insult of slavery.
1. there is scientific consensus on this
2. there is no relationship between intelligence and race but a small minority of researchers continue to try to "prove" that this is so
examples:
Charles Murray The Bell Curve, Christopher Brand liberal thinking is also based partly on biological assumptions about race genetic definitions of race are common across the political
directed by Sut Jally, Media Education Foundation, 1997
Classification and power work together.
Classification maintains the order in any system.
We cannot think without classification.
The survival of biological thinking
Race is one of the major concepts which organize the great classification systems (including gender and class) which operate in human societies. Classification seems basic to human thinking. What is the right strategy for an anti-racist politics? Just being "black" does not guarantee that your politics will be correct. In order to find a politics that will end racism, "You can't just say, well black people are doing such and such and they must be right." I want to discuss an approach to the political. There are no guarantees. Failure is always possible. You must do "right" because there is no guarantee ethically and theoretically that your position is "right."
Race is a discursive construct.
Despite the fact that scientists have agreed that biological race does not exist, race thinking of all sorts persists. Why is this? This is the subject of this lecture. Some people believe that all that can usefully be said about race has already been said.
If the biological concept of race cannot hold water, we must resort to a socio-cultural concept of race. W.E. B. Du Bois told us that racial differences are impossible to corellate with intelligence, personality, etc. Nevertheless, race persists and Du Bois argues that color is important as a badge of the social heritage and insult of slavery.
1. there is scientific consensus on this
2. there is no relationship between intelligence and race but a small minority of researchers continue to try to "prove" that this is so
examples:
Charles Murray The Bell Curve, Christopher Brand liberal thinking is also based partly on biological assumptions about race genetic definitions of race are common across the political