Racialism
Racialism is an emphasis on
race or racial considerations[
1]. Sometimes racialism refers to the controversial belief in the existence and significance of
racial categories. Racialism was very common throughout
Europe,
North America, and
Australia through the 18th and 19th centuries, and continues on to a lesser degree today. Although the term is sometimes used in contrast to
racism, especially in
academia (it is in this case a synonym of
scientific racism), it is also used
synonymously with racism.
In
separatist identity politics, the term may be used to emphasise perceived
social and
cultural differences between "races". Separatists may say that although they do not see themselves as
superior to — or feel
hatred towards — other "races", they nevertheless believe that the races should not live together (see
white separatism and
black separatism).
Racialists often cite controversial academic works such as
Race, Evolution and Behavior by
J. Philippe Rushton,
IQ and the Wealth of Nations by
Richard Lynn, and
The Bell Curve by
R.J. Herrnstein and
Charles Murray. Rushton's work in particular is controversial.
While "
racism" refers both to individual attitudes and group act, "racialism" usually implies the existence of a
social or
political movement and, more importantly, a theory of racism. Supporters of racialism say that "racism" implies racial
supremacism and a harmful intent, whereas "racialism" indicates a strong interest in matters of "race" without these connotations. Instead, their focus is on "racial pride",
identity politics, or
racial segregation. Organisations such as
NAAWP insist on these distinctions, and claim that they vehemently oppose
state sponsored racism.
The relationship between the two concepts is expressed at length by
Kwame Anthony Appiah in his book
In My Father's House:
"the view – which I shall call racialism – that there are heritable characteristics, possessed by members of our species, which allow us to divide them into a small set of races, in such a way that all the members of these races share certain traits and tendencies with each other that they do not share with members of any other race. These traits and tendencies characteristic of a race constitute, on the racialist view, a sort of racial essence; it is part of the content of racialism that the essential heritable characteristics of the "Races of Man" account for more than the visible morphological characteristics – skin colour, hair type, facial features – on the basis of which we make our informal classifications. Racialism is at the heart of nineteenth-century attempts to develop a science of racial difference, but it appears to have been believed by others – like Hegel, before then, and Crummell and many Africans since – who have had no interest in developing scientific theories.
Pierre-André Taguieff (1987) has used the word "racialism" as a perfect synonym of "
scientific racism", to distinguish it from "popular racism": "racialism" is racism which claims to be scientifically founded.
Arthur Gobineau's
An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-55) is a good example of such racialism.
Human zoos have been an important component of both "popular racism" and racialism, as it popularized
colonialism to the masses while being at the same time an object of curiosity for
anthropology and
anthropometric studies, until at least the
1930s.
W.E.B. DuBois argues that racialism is the philosophical belief that differences between the races exist, be it
biological,
social,
psychological, or in the realm of the
soul. He then goes on to argue that
racism is using this belief to push forward the argument that one's particular race is superior to the others.
Therefore, Dubois separates the
conditions of racism from
racism itself. (Anthony Kwame Appiah summarises Dubois' position in his book
In My Father's House, chapter 3.) Racialism in this view is a value-neutral philosophy, while racism is a value-charged ideology.
Molefi Kete Asante criticises DuBois for this very racialism in "The
Afrocentric Idea".
Within
identity politics, many groups have emphasised their own ethnic group, and the importance of "racial" differences, whether they be
cultural,
economic,
biological, or
political.
The
Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and similar organisations, advocate the welfare of a specific ethnicity, without a harmful intent towards others.
Use by white separatist and white supremacist groups
In the present-day United States, the term "racialism" has been appropriated by
white separatist and
white supremacist groups such as
Christian Identity,
[Militias march on, retrieved August 18, 2005.] Aryan Nations[Approving uses of the term were found on Aryan Nations website, retrieved August 18, 2005.], the
American Nazi Party[Approving uses of the term were found on American Nazi party website, retrieved August 18, 2005.], and
White Aryan Resistance.
[Approving uses of the term were found on White Aryan Resistance website, retrieved August 18, 2005.] These groups say that they do not view themselves as superior toâ€"and do not exhibit
hatred towards â€"other "races", but only believe in separation between "races".
In the historical context of the U.S., the word "racist" strongly evokes white-on-black racism; the use of the term "racialist" by these groups disclaims the characterization "racist", and advances more symmetric connotations of portraying white nationalism as being simply the white analog of black
civil rights struggles. For example, former Louisiana State Representative and Ku Klux Klan leader
David Duke's
National Association for the Advancement of White People seeks to portray itself as the white counterpart of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This analogy is controversial, and is rejected by the mainstream opinion because mainstream opinion holds that most of
Western civilization is still at least partially biased in the favour of white people, whereas the NAAWP claims that there is no longer any widespread societal bias towards favouring whites and if anything, the bias has shifted towards favouring people of colour, or is in the process of doing so. While most still hold that the NAAWP and similar groups are simply "racist", these groups themselves believe that they are really civil rights fighters for whites.
In an interview segment in his satirical program,
Ali G was once erroneously criticized for his use of the derivative
racialist, a relatively unused term in the United States.
Andy Rooney, among other criticisms of the artist's speech, refused to accept Ali G's use of the term and eventually conceded out of annoyance.
*
Tribalism*
Xenophobia*
Racial hygiene*
White power*
White pride*
Black power*
Black pride*
Media and ethnicity*
Multiculturalism*
John Henrik Clarke - Race: An Evolving Issue in Western Social Thought
*
The Phora - Race Relations Discussion Forum
*Molefi Kete Asante (1998) The Afrocentric Idea - ISBN 156639595X
*Paul C. Taylor (2000) - Appiah's Uncompleted Argument: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Reality of Race. (philosopher K. Anthony Appiah) : An article from: Social Theory and Practice ISBN B0008HB770
*Kwame Anthony Appiah (1993) - In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture - ISBN 0195068521
*
Reggie White's Speech before the Wisconsin State Assembly (click 778)
*
Sanneh, Kelefa "After the Beginning Again: The Afrocentric Ordeal"
Transition Magazine - Issue 87 (Volume 10, Number 3), 2001, pp. 66-89
*Kennedy, Paul and Nicholls Anthony (eds.)
Nationalist and racialist movements in Britain and Germany before 1914 (Saint Antony's College Press, 1981).
*Dobratz, Betty A.
"White power, white pride!": The white separatist movement in the United States (Twayne Publishers, NY, 1997).
*Melvern, Linda.
Conspiracy to murder: The Rwanda genocide (Verso, London, 2004).
*Snyder, Louis L.
The Idea of Racialism: Meaning and History. (Princeton, NJ, 1962).
*Stokes, Geoffrey (ed.).
The Politics of Identity in Australia. See: John Kane, "Racialism and democracy" (
Cambrdige University Press, 1997).
*Arter, David. "Black Faces in the Blond Crowd: Populist Racialism in Scandinavia",
Parliamentary Affairs, July 1992, vol. 45:3, pp. 357-372.
*Odocha O.
Race and racialism in scientific research and publication in the Journal of the National Medical Association. (
National Library of Medicine, 2000).
*Zubaida, Sami (ed.).
Race and Racialism (Tavistock, London, 1970).
The African National Congress and the policy of non-Racialism: A study of the membership issues (
South African Journal of Political Studies, 2002).
*Racial Identity, the Apartheid State, and the Limits of Political Mobilization and Democratic Reform in South Africa: The Case of the University of the Western (
Teachers College, Columbia University, 2003).
*Lee, Woojin and Roemer, John.
Electoral Consequences of Racialism for Redistribution in the United States: 1972-1992 (California Institute of Technology,
Division of the Humanities and social Sciences[PDF], 2002).
*Thompson, Walter Thomas.
James Anthony Froude on Nation and Empire: A Study in Victorian Racialism (Taylor & Francis, London, 1998).
*UNESCO General Conference.
Declaration of Fundamental Principles concerning the Contribution of the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding, to the Promotion of Human Rights and to Countering Racialism, Apartheid and Incitement to War (
University of Hawaii, 1978).
