In:
Theory, Culture & Society, SAGE Publications, Vol. 28, No. 1 ( 2011-01), p. 112-128
Abstract:
The race idea keeps recurring in different guises and yet has an intriguing ‘ever-changing sameness’. Ash Amin has provided an insightful discussion of the question in an earlier issue of this journal. I supplement his account by pointing to the ways in which the nature—culture puzzle identified by Lévi-Strauss creates continuing spaces and seductions for the race idea. I offer an account of the perils of using supposedly ‘natural’ human attributes, as in versions of cognitive anthropology, to explain racism, without completely discounting the idea of human universals. I also explore how ‘race’ retains its continuing hold by intertwining with themes of class, sexuality and nation. I provide an interpretation of racist identities and explain why my account offers both greater pessimism and more optimism than Amin’s more uniform ‘ontological pessimism’.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0263-2764
,
1460-3616
DOI:
10.1177/0263276410387623
Language:
English
Publisher:
SAGE Publications
Publication Date:
2011
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1490738-0
detail.hit.zdb_id:
803302-X
SSG:
3,4
SSG:
10
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