Invention of the white race

[John St. Clair]

Mat writes:
> I think the evidence is strong that modern racism is rooted in the 15th
> century, and has been continuous. We may speak of different periods,
> e.g. 19th century scientific racism, etc., but that is different than
> being discontinuous.  The emergence of modern racism  is inseparable from
> the rise of capitalism (Eric Williams, Oliver Cox), but these arguments
> should be combined with those found in West's "Geneology of Modern Racism"
> and the work of Dona Richards/Marimba Ani.

Have you read Robert Miles' _Racism_, part of the "Key Ideas" series from
Routledge? He's got a pretty strong critique of "functionalist" accounts of
racism (though I'm not suggesting you are offering such an account). Another
interesting text, though I can't find my copy at the moment, is (something
like) "All the World's a Fair"--a history of (duh) world fairs. Interesting,
especially the stuff about the construction of otherness, placing Africans
(among others) in "observation booths", etc., etc.

John

John St. Clair
University of South Florida
Department of Philosophy
Cooper 107
Tampa, FL 33620

Office: CPR 267
Phone: 813-974-5896
Hours: M 3-5, T 10-12
http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~jstclair/