This is such a good piece. There's a lot of great stuff to touch on it all, so I just want want to say *I'm so glad* you share my utter hatred for the usage of dehumanizing terms like "black BODIES." Hearing it makes me physically grossed out, every time. There are people inside those bodies, ffs.
I'm not sure the distinction b/w race and culture is so easy to define or maintain. One of the most frustrating ideologies I've encountered is the notion of "White Supremacy Culture" -- that whites have a culture of perfectionism, objectivity, etc that is not the culture of non-whites (and is therefore oppressive). So many problems with that assertion that I won't get into but my point here is that antiracists (and, ironically, racists) are big into the idea of "culture" as a proxy for race.
And here's an even less popular thought that keeps crossing my mind: I don't personally relate to the idea of being proud of my ancestral people's achievements. Modern Jews have probably made disproportionate contributions to science and arts...okay, interesting.... but why do I care? I didn't do those things.
I agree that antiracists and racists can both use culture as a proxy for race... but they're wrong. :) Really it's the other way round, that race is a proxy for culture - because culture is a real phenomenon, and race is made up. I mean there are plenty of ideas of objectivity in non-Western cultures - to say nothing of the fact that classical Western culture was never "white" to begin with, coming out of western Asia and northern Africa alongside southern Europe.
And yeah, I do sympathize with not being proud of your ancestors (or ashamed of them, conversely). I think it may be more important in the case of ADOS/African-Americans, who went through such a terrible past and are still doing so poorly as a whole (even though someone like Loury is doing fine): the genuine greatness of the things their ancestors have accomplished is an important reminder that they don't have to be stuck in social despair.
I get what you're saying about pride being more salient for groups that have endured so much. It doesn't make sense to me at the head-level but it could be more of a heart-level experience.
It might be my own lack of connection with my ancestors/heritage, but I've also always found strange the idea of taking "pride" in immutable characteristics or a history that I had no control over. It's become canon among a lot of the marginalized activist communities without a whole lot of reflection, in my opinion.
Yeah, I admit it feels a little weird to me too: I would not say I feel pride in either my Indian brahmin or Scottish/English heritage. I certainly think more reflection is a good thing. And yet I *do* feel proud to be Canadian, even though I didn't choose that either. The thing is, Canadian culture made me who I am and will always be a part of who I am, and so I can feel pride in Canada's accomplishments and shame in its failings. It is not distant from me the way my ancestry is. And so I think it's reasonable for someone raised in an African-American/ADOS community to feel pride in that.
Excellent article and definitely chimes a lot with some of the thinking on race I've had. (I wrote a recent article called 'Was Robin Hood white?" that explored some of the fallacies of modern race thinking.
Have you read any of Stuart Hall? In his book the Fateful Triangle he talks about the shift from 'race' to 'culture' (as you do) but is more cynical, because he sees that race is a 'floating signifier', so the shift doesn't really escape the connotations of race, but simply reworks it. (at least that's my interpretation). On the other hand, I've always found that in Hall's writing there is a sense that escaping race *is* possible but that it requires a lot of discursive *work* to make it happen.
Thank you. I haven't read much of Hall. The line that stuck with me most from him was "race is how class is lived". I am increasingly skeptical that that's a good way to characterize things these days (as Nigerian immigrants thrive and white rural areas wither), but it seemed extremely perceptive when I read it back in the '90s. I wouldn't be surprised if he's got other good insights that are still relevant today.
Maybe whether race is a proxy for culture or the opposite varies, or some kind of tangle occurs here?
For example the concept of "Islamophobia" is quite popular in the UK, and in how it's applied it's implicitly or sometimes explicitly assumed that criticism, dislike and mistrust of Islam and/or Muslims is a cover up for straightforward racism towards brown people AND/OR ethnic prejudice against (in the UK) largely Pakistani/Bangladeshi heritage communities, often fairly disadvantaged economically (unlike Sikh or Hindu people with Indian heritage).
The single-minded focus on race is extremely American, so I wouldn't be surprised if it plays out differently elsewhere.
Here, Islamophobia was a much bigger issue in the 2000s. I think describing mistrust of Islam as a "coverup" would be misleading. That mistrust *did* translate into attacks on brown people in general (and that made it a scary time to be here), but I don't think that racism against brown people was something deeper or more fundamental; if it were, we'd have seen a lot more of it in recent years when racial conflicts are stoked but the September 11 attacks are a distant memory. I think it was more a matter that people were lashing out against perceived Muslims in a way that didn't care a lot about distinctions among targets.
I'm not sure the distinction b/w race and culture is so easy to define or maintain. One of the most frustrating ideologies I've encountered is the notion of "White Supremacy Culture" -- that whites have a culture of perfectionism, objectivity, etc that is not the culture of non-whites (and is therefore oppressive). So many problems with that assertion that I won't get into but my point here is that antiracists (and, ironically, racists) are big into the idea of "culture" as a proxy for race.
And here's an even less popular thought that keeps crossing my mind: I don't personally relate to the idea of being proud of my ancestral people's achievements. Modern Jews have probably made disproportionate contributions to science and arts...okay, interesting.... but why do I care? I didn't do those things.
This is such a good piece. There's a lot of great stuff to touch on it all, so I just want want to say *I'm so glad* you share my utter hatred for the usage of dehumanizing terms like "black BODIES." Hearing it makes me physically grossed out, every time. There are people inside those bodies, ffs.
I'm not sure the distinction b/w race and culture is so easy to define or maintain. One of the most frustrating ideologies I've encountered is the notion of "White Supremacy Culture" -- that whites have a culture of perfectionism, objectivity, etc that is not the culture of non-whites (and is therefore oppressive). So many problems with that assertion that I won't get into but my point here is that antiracists (and, ironically, racists) are big into the idea of "culture" as a proxy for race.
And here's an even less popular thought that keeps crossing my mind: I don't personally relate to the idea of being proud of my ancestral people's achievements. Modern Jews have probably made disproportionate contributions to science and arts...okay, interesting.... but why do I care? I didn't do those things.
I agree that antiracists and racists can both use culture as a proxy for race... but they're wrong. :) Really it's the other way round, that race is a proxy for culture - because culture is a real phenomenon, and race is made up. I mean there are plenty of ideas of objectivity in non-Western cultures - to say nothing of the fact that classical Western culture was never "white" to begin with, coming out of western Asia and northern Africa alongside southern Europe.
And yeah, I do sympathize with not being proud of your ancestors (or ashamed of them, conversely). I think it may be more important in the case of ADOS/African-Americans, who went through such a terrible past and are still doing so poorly as a whole (even though someone like Loury is doing fine): the genuine greatness of the things their ancestors have accomplished is an important reminder that they don't have to be stuck in social despair.
I get what you're saying about pride being more salient for groups that have endured so much. It doesn't make sense to me at the head-level but it could be more of a heart-level experience.
It might be my own lack of connection with my ancestors/heritage, but I've also always found strange the idea of taking "pride" in immutable characteristics or a history that I had no control over. It's become canon among a lot of the marginalized activist communities without a whole lot of reflection, in my opinion.
Yeah, I admit it feels a little weird to me too: I would not say I feel pride in either my Indian brahmin or Scottish/English heritage. I certainly think more reflection is a good thing. And yet I *do* feel proud to be Canadian, even though I didn't choose that either. The thing is, Canadian culture made me who I am and will always be a part of who I am, and so I can feel pride in Canada's accomplishments and shame in its failings. It is not distant from me the way my ancestry is. And so I think it's reasonable for someone raised in an African-American/ADOS community to feel pride in that.
Excellent article and definitely chimes a lot with some of the thinking on race I've had. (I wrote a recent article called 'Was Robin Hood white?" that explored some of the fallacies of modern race thinking.
Have you read any of Stuart Hall? In his book the Fateful Triangle he talks about the shift from 'race' to 'culture' (as you do) but is more cynical, because he sees that race is a 'floating signifier', so the shift doesn't really escape the connotations of race, but simply reworks it. (at least that's my interpretation). On the other hand, I've always found that in Hall's writing there is a sense that escaping race *is* possible but that it requires a lot of discursive *work* to make it happen.
Thank you. I haven't read much of Hall. The line that stuck with me most from him was "race is how class is lived". I am increasingly skeptical that that's a good way to characterize things these days (as Nigerian immigrants thrive and white rural areas wither), but it seemed extremely perceptive when I read it back in the '90s. I wouldn't be surprised if he's got other good insights that are still relevant today.
Maybe whether race is a proxy for culture or the opposite varies, or some kind of tangle occurs here?
For example the concept of "Islamophobia" is quite popular in the UK, and in how it's applied it's implicitly or sometimes explicitly assumed that criticism, dislike and mistrust of Islam and/or Muslims is a cover up for straightforward racism towards brown people AND/OR ethnic prejudice against (in the UK) largely Pakistani/Bangladeshi heritage communities, often fairly disadvantaged economically (unlike Sikh or Hindu people with Indian heritage).
The single-minded focus on race is extremely American, so I wouldn't be surprised if it plays out differently elsewhere.
Here, Islamophobia was a much bigger issue in the 2000s. I think describing mistrust of Islam as a "coverup" would be misleading. That mistrust *did* translate into attacks on brown people in general (and that made it a scary time to be here), but I don't think that racism against brown people was something deeper or more fundamental; if it were, we'd have seen a lot more of it in recent years when racial conflicts are stoked but the September 11 attacks are a distant memory. I think it was more a matter that people were lashing out against perceived Muslims in a way that didn't care a lot about distinctions among targets.
Of course, having multiple cultures is antithetical to the capitalist drive to homogenize and content-ify everything.
I'm not sure the distinction b/w race and culture is so easy to define or maintain. One of the most frustrating ideologies I've encountered is the notion of "White Supremacy Culture" -- that whites have a culture of perfectionism, objectivity, etc that is not the culture of non-whites (and is therefore oppressive). So many problems with that assertion that I won't get into but my point here is that antiracists (and, ironically, racists) are big into the idea of "culture" as a proxy for race.
And here's an even less popular thought that keeps crossing my mind: I don't personally relate to the idea of being proud of my ancestral people's achievements. Modern Jews have probably made disproportionate contributions to science and arts...okay, interesting.... but why do I care? I didn't do those things.