Week
1: The Meaning of Race
Week
2: The Construction of ‘Blackness’ and ‘Whiteness’
Week
3: Race, labour and immigration
Week 4:
Managing ‘race’
Week
5: Policing ‘race’
Week
6: The politics of racism, nation and culture
Week 7: READING WEEK
Week
8: The politics of resistance
Week
9: The politics of rebellion
Week
10: The politics of difference
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This first lecture considers what it is that we are studying in ‘The Politics of Race’. What do we mean by ‘race’? What are the origins and nature of the concept and how has it changed over time? How is ‘race’ related to other forms of primary social division e.g. class and gender? When we talk about racism are we always talking about the same thing? Are there a common set of features to all forms of racism or are they entirely specific to their time and place?
In offering an overview of the main theoretical debates within the contemporary study of race and politics, the primary concern here is to demonstrate how both the conceptual tools we will be using and the subject-matter to which we will apply those tools remain the subject of intense dispute.
Basic Reading
Floyal Anthias, ‘Race and class revisited - conceptualizing race and racism’, Sociological Review, Vol.38, No.1, pp.19-42
Floyal Anthias and Nira Yuval-Davis, Racialized Boundaries: Race, Nation, Gender, Colour and Class and the Anti-racist struggle (Routledge, 1992) chpts.1, 3, 4 & 5
Michael Banton, Racial Theories (CUP, 1987)
Martin Barker, The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe (Junction Books, 1981) chpts.1, 2, 3 & 5
Paul Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (Routledge, 1987) chpt.1
David Theo Goldberg, ‘The Social Formation of Racist Discourse’ in David Theo Goldberg (ed.), Anatomy of Racism (University of Minnesota Press, 1990)
David Theo Goldberg, ‘The Semantics of Race’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol.15, No.4, pp.543-569
David Theo Goldberg, Racist Culture (Blackwell, 1993) chpts. 1,3,4,5 & 9
Colette Guillaumin, Racism, sexism, power and ideology (Routledge, 1995) chpts.1,2 & 3
Stuart Hall, ‘Race, Articulation and Societies Structured in Dominance’, in UNESCO, Sociological Theories: Race and Colonialism (UNESCO, 1980)
Robert Miles, Racism and Migrant Labour (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982) Part I
Robert Miles, Racism after ‘race relations’ (Routledge, 1993) Part I
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.1
Renan Malik, The Meaning of Race (Macmillan, 1996) chpts. 2,3,4 & 5
Additional Reading
E.Balibar and Immanuel Wallerstein, Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities (Verso, 1991)
Michael Banton, ‘The Concept of Racism’ in Sami Zubadia (ed.), Race and Racialism (Tavistock, 1970)
Michael Banton, ‘The Race Relations Problematic’, British Journal of Sociology, Vol.42, No.1, pp.15-30
E.Barkan, The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race in Britain and the United States Between the World Wars (CUP, 1992)
Martin Barker, ‘Biology and the New Racism’ in David Theo Goldberg (ed.), Anatomy of Racism (University of Minnesota Press, 1990)
Joseph L.Graves Jr., ‘Evolutionary Biology and Human Variation: Biological Determinism and the Mythology of Race’, Sage Race Relations Abstract, Vol.18, No.3, pp.4-34 [bibliographic essay]
Colette Guillaumin, ‘The idea of race and its elevation to autonomous scientific and legal status’ in UNESCO, Sociological Theories: Race and Colonialism (UNESCO, 1980)
Joel Kovel, White Racism: A Psychohistory (Free Association Books, 1988)
Errol Lawrence, ‘In the abundance of water the fool is thirsty: sociology and black "pathology"’ in CCCS, The Empire Strikes Back: race and racism in 70s Britain (Hutchinson, 1982)
Robert Miles, ‘Racism, Marxism and British Politics’, Economy and Society, Vol.17, No.3, pp.428-60
Robert Miles, Racism (Routledge, 1989)
George Mosse, Towards the Final Solution: A History of European Racism (University of Madison Press, 1985)
Lucius Outlaw, ‘Towards a Critical Theory of Race’ in David Theo Goldberg (ed.), Anatomy of Racism (University of Minnesota Press, 1990)
F. Reeves, British Racial Discourse (CUP, 1983) chpts.1 & 3
John Rex, ‘The Concept of Race in Sociological Theory’ in Sami Zubadia (ed.), Race and Racialism (Tavistock, 1970)
John Rex, Race Relations in Sociological Theory (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983 [2nd ed.])
John Rex and David Mason (eds.), Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations (CUP, 1986) Introduction & chpts.1-5
Web site(s): The Race Gallery
Seminar Questions: How useful are social scientific notions of ‘race’ in helping us to understand contemporary societies?
Week 2: The Construction of ‘Blackness’ and ‘Whiteness’
This lecture explores the origins of modern racism. It introduces the idea that modern notions of race and racism are rooted, at least to some extent, within the wider systemic processes of capitalist development. In particular, it examines the development of slavery and colonialism, their connection to the expansion of modern industrial capitalism and the relationship between economic production and racist ideology. The final part of the lecture considers the implications of the above for our understanding of the complex interactions between the dynamics of race and class.
Basic Reading
Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the White Race: Volume 2 - The Origins of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America (Verso, 1997)
Oliver Cromwell Cox, Caste, Class and Race (Monthly Review Press, 1970)
Eugene Genovese, The Political Economy of Slavery (Wesleyan University Press, 1989 [2nd edition]) Introductions & Part I.
Eugene Genovese, The World the Slaveholders Made: two essays in interpretation (Wesleyan University Press, 1988) chpts.1 & 2
George Fredrickson, The arrogance of race: historical perspectives on slavery, racism and society (Wesleyan University Press, 1988)
W.J.Jordan, The White Man’s Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States (OUP, 1974)
Errol Lawrence, ‘Just plain common sense: the "roots" of racism’ in CCCS, The Empire Strikes Back: race and racism in 70s Britain (Hutchinson, 1982)
Robert Miles, Racism and Migrant Labour (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982) chpt.5
J. Walvin, Passage to Britain (Penguin, 1984) chpt.2
Vron Ware, Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism and History (Verso, 1992)
Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (Andre Deutsch, 1989 [8th impression]) chpts.1, 12 & 13
Additional Reading
C.A.Bayly, Imperial Meridian: The British Empire and the World 1780-1830 (Longman, 1989) chpts.4 & 5
Anton Gill, Ruling Passions: sex, race and empire (BBC, 1995)
W.J.Jordan, White Over Black: American Attitudes Towards the Negro, 1550-1812 (University of North Carolina Press, 1968)
V.Kiernan, ‘European attitudes to the outside world’ in C.Husbands (ed.), ‘Race’ in Britain: Continuity and Change (Hutchinson, 1987 [2nd edition])
G.Lewis, Slavery, Imperialism and Freedom (Monthly Review Press, 1978)
O.Patterson, The Sociology of Slavery: An Analysis of the Origins, Development and Structure of Negro Slave Society in Jamaica (MacGibbon & Kee, 1967)
Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Bogle L’Ouverture, 1983)
Barbara L. Solow and Stanley L.Engerman, British Capitalism and Carribean Slavery: The Legacy of Eric Williams (CUP, 1987) Parts I & II
D.van Arkel et al, Racism and Colonialism: essays on ideology and social structure (Univesirty of Leiden Press, 1982)
J. Walvin, Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery (HarperCollins, 1992)
Seminar Questions: How are the origins of modern racism best understood?
Week 3: Race, labour and immigration
This lecture offers some background to the politics of race in contemporary Britain, exploring the historical context to post-war immigration. It then examines the main determinants of post-war immigration and the ways in which the British state has responded to it. It considers how the issue of immigration was racialised from an early stage and how political opinion and policy responses have been geared specifically to controlling the entry of black migrants. The lecture explores the development of immigration as a focus of political discourse and conflict from the immediate post-war period to the present day, paying particular attention to the role played by ideological attachments to ‘race’ and ‘nation’.
Basic Reading
B.Carter, C.Harris and S.Joshi, ‘The 1951-55 Conservative Government and the Racialization of Black
Immigration’, in W.James and C.Harris, Inside Babylon: The Carribean Diaspora in Britain (Verso, 1993)
P.Foot, The Rise of Enoch Powell (Penguin, 1969)
P.Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain (Pluto, 1984) chpt.11
Clive Harris, ‘Post-war Migration and the Industrial Reserve Army’ in W.James and C.Harris, Inside Babylon: The Carribean Diaspora in Britain (Verso, 1993)
S.Joshi and B.Carter, ‘The role of Labour in the creation of a racist Britain’, Race and Class, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 53-70
I.Katznelson, Black Men, White Cities (University of Chicago Press, 1976) chpts.8, 9 & 11
Z. Layton-Henry, The Politics of Immigration: Immigration, ‘Race’ and ‘Race’ Relations in Post-war Britain (Blackwell, 1992) chpt.2
R.Miles and J.Solomos, ‘Migration and the state in Britain: a historical overview’ in C.Husbands (ed.), ‘Race’ in Britain: Continuity and Change (Hutchinson, 1987 [2nd edition])
A.Sivanandan, ‘Race, Class and the State’ in A Different Hunger (Pluto, 1982)
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.3
Additional Reading
S.Castles and G.Kosack, Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe (OUP, 1985)
Robin Cohen, The New Helots: Migrants in the International Division of Labour (Avebury, 1987) chpts.4,5 & 6
M.Cross, ‘The Black Economy’, New Society, 24 July 1987
R.Fevre, Cheap Labour and Racial Discrimination (Gower, 1984)
P.Foot, Immigration and Race in British Politics (Penguin, 1965) chpts.7 & 8
G.Freeman, Immigrant Labor and Racial Conflict in Industrial Societies (Princeton University Press, 1979)
C.Holmes, John Bull’s Island: Immigration to Britain 1871-1971 (Macmillan, 1988)
Z.Layton-Henry, The Politics of Race in Britain (Allen and Unwin, 1984) chpt.2
Kenneth Lush, ‘The British State and Immigration, 1945-51: New Light on the Empire Windrush’, Immigrants and Minorities, Vol.8, Nos.1 & 2, pp.161-174
I.Macdonald, Immigration Law and Practice in the United Kingdom (Butterworths, 1983)
D.Mason, Race and Ethnicity in Modern Britain (OUP, 1995) chpt. 5
R.Miles, ‘The riots of 1958: notes on the ideological construction of "race relations" as a political issue in Britain’, Immigrants and Minorities, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 252-275
R.Miles, Racism and Migrant Labour (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982) chpt.7
R. Miles and Annie Phizacklea, White Man’s Country: Racism in British Politics (Pluto, 1984) chpts.1-4
A.Phizacklea and R.Miles, Labour and Racism (Routledge, 1980) chpts.1 & 2
E.Pilkington, Beyond the Mother Country: West Indians and the Notting Hill White Riots (I.B. Tauris, 1988)
J.Solomos, ‘The politics of immigration since 1945’ in Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi and Richard Skellington (eds.), Racism and Antiracism: Inequalities, Opportunities and Policies (Sage, 1992)
J. Walvin, Passage to Britain (Penguin, 1984) chpts.7 & 8
Video: Timewatch: the Politics of Immigration (1994)
Seminar Questions: What are the main determinants of post-war immigration to Britain? How have ideological attachments to ‘race’ and ‘nation’ been played out in the area of immigration?
This lecture looks to the other main elements of state
intervention, namely successive attempts by central and local state institutions
to manage relationships between immigrant and ‘host’ communities. The aim
here is to provide a critical account of the manner in which ‘race relations’
in Britain has shifted from ‘assimilation’ to ‘multiculturalism’ to ‘anti-racism’.
The lecture examines the rationale behind these institutional attempts
to tackle widespread inequality in black communities and assess their effectiveness
in the face of shifting forms of racist ideology and practice in the post-war
period. In particular, the lecture considers the extent to which institutional
responses to racism have really attempted to address the actual concerns
and needs of black communities or whether they have been informed by an
understanding of those communities exclusively in terms of ‘problems’ or
‘victims’.
On the national management of ‘race’ relations
Basic reading
P.Gilroy and E.Lawrence, ‘Two-tone Britain, Black Youth White Youth and the politics of anti-racism’ in P.Cohen and H. Bains (eds.), Multi-Racist Britain (Macmillan, 1988)
N.Glazer and K.Young (eds.), Ethnic Pluralism and Public Policy (Heinemann, 1983) chpts.3-5, 8-10
Peter Gibbon, ‘Equal opportunities policy and race quality’ in Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi and Richard Skellington (eds.), Racism and Antiracism: Inequalities, Opportunities and Policies (Sage, 1992)
R.Jenkins and J.Solomos (eds.), Racism and Equal Opportunity Policies in the 1980s (CUP, 1989 [2nd edition]) chpts.1,2 & 3
Nick Jewson and David Mason, ‘The theory and practice of equal opportunities policies: liberal and radical approaches’ in Peter Braham et al (eds.), Racism and Antiracism: Inequalities, Opportunities and Policies (Sage, 1992)
R.Moore, Racism and Black Resistance in Britain (Pluto, 1975) chpt.4
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.4
J.Solomos, Black Youth, Racism and the State (CUP,
1988) chpt.2
Additional Reading
S.Abbott (ed.), The Prevention of Racial Discrimination in Britain (OUP, 1971)
M.Banton, Promoting Racial Harmony (CUP, 1985)
J.Benyon and J.Solomos (eds.), The Roots of Urban Unrest (Pergamon Press, 1987) chpts.13 & 14
C.Brown, Black and White Britain (Heinemann, 1984) chpt.10
C.Brown and P.Gay, Racial Discrimination: 17 Years After the Act (Policy Studies Institute, 1985)
Stephan Feuchtwang, ‘The Politics of Equal Opportunities in Employment’ in A.X.Cambridge and S.Feuchtwang (eds.), Antiracist Strategies (Avebury, 1990)
R.Hepple, ‘Judging Equal Rights’, Critical Legal Problems, No.36, pp.71-90
Brian Jacobs, ‘The Race Industry’ in Black Politics and Urban Crisis in Britain (CUP, 1986)
A.Lester and G.Bindman, Race and Law (Penguin, 1972)
Z.Layton-Henry, The Politics of Race in Britain (Allen and Unwin, 1984) chpt.9
L.Lustgarten, Legal Control of Racial Discrimination (Macmillan, 1980)
C.McCrudden, ‘The Commission for Racial Equality’ in R.Baldwin and C.McCrudden (eds.) Regulation and Public Law (Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1987)
C.McCrudden, D.J.Smith and C.Brown, Racial Justice at Work (Policy studies Institute, 1991)
On the local management of ‘race’ relations
Basic reading
Floyal Anthias and Nira Yuval-Davis, Racialized Boundaries: Race, Nation, Gender, Colour and Class and the Anti-racist struggle (Routledge, 1992) chpt.6
W.Ball and J.Solomos (eds.), Race and Local Politics (Macmillan, 1990) chpts.1, 2, 8-11
G.Ben-Tovim, J.Gabriel et.al., The Local Politics of Race (Macmillan, 1986) chpts.4 & 6
P.Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (Routledge, 1987) chpt.4
P.Gilroy, ‘The end of antiracism’ in J.Donald and A.Rattansi (eds.), ‘Race’, Culture & Difference (Sage, 1992) [also in W.Ball and J.Solomos (eds.), Race and Local Politics (Macmillan, 1990)]
A.Sivanandan, Communities of Resistance: writings on black struggles for socialism (Verso, 1990) chpts.4 & 8
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.5
J.Solomos, ‘The Local Politics of Racial Equality: Policy innovation and the limits of reform’ in M.Cross and M.Keith (eds.) Racism, the City and the State (Routledge, 1993)
Additional Reading
L. Bridges, ‘Keeping the lid on: British Urban Policy 1975-81’, Race and Class, Vol.23, No.2
Martin Barker, The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe (Junction Books, 1981) chpt.3
G.Ben-Tovim et al, ‘Race, Left Strategies and the State’, Politics and Power, No.3 (1981)
G.Ben-Tovim, J.Gabriel, I.Law and K.Stredder, ‘A political analysis of local struggles for racial equality’ in Peter Braham et al (eds.), Racism and Antiracism: Inequalities, Opportunities and Policies (Sage, 1992)
Alistair Bonnett, Radicalism, anti-racism and representation (Routledge, 1993) chpts. 2, 3, 5-7
P.Cohen, ‘"It’s racism what dunnit": hidden narratives in theories of racism’ in J.Donald and A.Rattansi (eds.), ‘Race’, Culture & Difference (Sage, 1992)
Ahmed Gurmah, ‘The politics of Racism Awareness Training’, Critical Social Policy, 11, 1983
D.Mason, Race and Ethnicity in Modern Britain (OUP, 1995) chpt.6
H. Ousley, The System (Runnymede, 1981)
G.Weightman, ‘Flogging anti-racism’, New Society, 11 May 1978
Web site(s): Campaign
Against Racism and Fascism
The Commission for Racial
Equality
Video: An Equal Chance (1990)
Seminar Questions: How have institutional attempts to ‘manage’ race relations changed in the post-war period? How successful have they been? To what extent has the focus of the problem shifted from racism to ‘race’?
This lecture examines a central mechanism of authoritarian
control of black communities in contemporary Britain, namely the police.
It considers the growth of conflict between the police and black communities
from the late 1960s, focusing particularly on the criminalisation of black
youth in inner-cities. The lecture examines the interconnections between
the social and economic position of black communities and the popularisation
of images of black cultural and social activity as deviant. It discusses
the way in which black youth become synonymous with notions of urban deprivation,
alienation and ultimately with crime and how this is manifested in moral
panics over mugging and the symbolic threat of violent disorder. The lecture
considers the intensity of opposition to the police within many black communities
and analyses the determinants of increasingly violent confrontations.
Basic Reading
J. Benyon, ‘Spiral of Decline: Race and Policing’ in Z. Layton-Henry & P. Rich (eds.), Race, Government and Politics in Britain (Macmillan, 1986)
P.Gilroy, ‘Police and Thieves’ in CCCS, The Empire Strikes Back: Race and racism in 70s Britain (Hutchinson, 1982)
P.Gilroy, ‘The myth of black criminality’, Socialist Register, 1982
P.Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (Routledge, 1987) chpt.3
P. Gordon, White Law: Racism in the Police, Courts and Prisons (Pluto, 1983) chpts.2 & 4
P.Gordon, ‘Black people and the criminal law: rhetoric and reality’ in Peter Braham, et.al. (eds.), Racism and Antiracism: Inequalities, Opportunities and Policies (Sage, 1992)
S.Hall, ‘Race and Moral Panics in Post-War Britain’ in Commission for Racial Equality (ed.), Five Views of Multi-Racial Britain (CRE, 1978)
S.Hall, C.Critcher, T.Jefferson, J.Clarke and B.Roberts, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order (Macmillan, 1978) chpts.1, 2 & 10
D.Howe, ‘From bobby to Babylon: blacks and the British police’, Race Today, May/June and November 1980
Institute of Race Relations, Policing Against Black People (Institute of Race Relations, 1986)
Z. Layton-Henry, The Politics of Immigration: Immigration, ‘Race’ and ‘Race’ Relations in Post-war Britain (Blackwell, 1992) chpt.6
J.Solomos, Black Youth, Racism and the State (CUP, 1988) chpt.3
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.6
J.Solmos, ‘Constructions of Black Criminality: Racialisation and Criminalisation in Perspective’ in Dee Cook and Barbara Hudson (eds.), Racism and Criminology (Sage, 1993)
Additional Reading
R.Behrens, ‘The Scarman Report: a British view’, Political Quarterly, Vol.53, No.2
J. Benyon & J.Solomos (eds.), The Roots of Urban Unrest (Pergamon Press, 1987) Part 3
L.Bridges, ‘Policing the urban wasteland’, Race and Class, Vol.25, No.2
C.Demuth, ‘Sus’: A report on the Vagrancy Act 1824 (Runnymeade Trust, 1978)
P.Gordon, Racial Violence and Harassment (Runnymeade Trust, 1986)
P.Gordon, ‘Police and Black People in Britain: A Bibliographic Essay’, Sage Race Relations Abstracts, Vol.10, No.2, pp.3-33
P.Gordon, ‘Community Policing: towards the local police state?’, Critical Social Policy, No.10
S.Hall, ‘The lessons of Lord Scarman’, Critical Social Policy, Vol.2, No.2
D.Humphry and G.John, Police Power and Black People (Panther, 1972)
T. Jefferson, ‘Race, Crime and Policing’, International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 1988
G.John, Race in the Inner City: A Report from Handsworth (Runnymeade Trust,
M.Keith, ‘From Punishment to Discipline? Racism, Racialisation and the Policing of Social Control’ in M.Cross and M.Keith (eds.) Racism, the City and the State (Routledge, 1993)
M. Keith, Race, Riots and Policing: Lore and Disorder in a Multi-racist Society (UCL, 1993)
J.R.Lambert, Crime, Police and Race Relations: A Study in Birmingham (OUP, 1970)
London Borough of Lambeth, Final Report Of The Working Party Into Community/Police Relations in Lambeth (Lon. Bor. of Lambeth, 1981)
L. Lusgarten, ‘Beyond Scarman: Police Accountability in Britain’ in N.Glazer and K.Young (eds.), Ethnic Pluralism and Public Policy (Heinemann, 1983)
R.Mark, In The Office of Constable (Fontana, 1978) [autobiography of the former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police]
R.Mark, ‘The Metropolitan Police: their role in the community’, Community, July 1970, pp.3-5 [article by the then Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police]
Lord Scarman, The Brixton Disorders 10-12 April 1981: Report of an Inquiry by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Scarman OBE (HMSO, 1981 [Cmnd 8427])
P.Scraton, The State of the Police (Pluto, 1985) chpt.5
Select Comm. on Race Relations and Immigration, Police/Immigrant Relations (HMSO, 1972)
Web site(s): Statewatch
Home Page
Metropolitan Police Home Page
Video: Police Powers: Black and Blue (1990)
Seminar Questions: Why and to what extent has the black community in post-war Britain been criminalised?
Week 6: The politics of racism, nation and culture
This lecture considers the development of racial ideology
and political action in ‘social movements’ of the new and far right and
in British political culture more generally. It examines the way in which
the construction of racist political discourse has increasingly focused
on the need to assert a monolithic British cultural integrity and how black
people are imagined to threaten this. The lecture pays specific attention
to the rise of neo-fascist movements such as the National Front and the
British National Party but also analyses the ways in which notions of racial
exclusivity have permeated political culture more generally. It addresses
the question of whether racism and the many forms of political mobilisation
that attend it are in fact increasingly accepted, though largely unacknowledged,
features of British politics.
Specific Reading
Reading for Seminar on The politics of racism, nation & culture (5 copies in my Lecturer’s Box)
Basic Reading
Floyal Anthias and Nira Yuval-Davis, Racialized Boundaries: Race, Nation, Gender, Colour and Class and the Anti-racist struggle (Routledge, 1992) chpt.2
R. Benewick, ‘Interpretations of British Fascism’, Political Studies, 1976
Nigel Copsey, ‘Fascism: the Ideology of the British National Party’, Politics, 14, 3, pp.101-8
Liz Fekete, ‘Europe for the Europeans: East End for the East Enders’, Race and Class, Vol.32, No.4, pp.66-75
D.Edgar, ‘Racism, Fascism and the Politics of the National Front’, Race and Class, Vol.19, No.2, pp.111-131
P.Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (Routledge, 1987) chpt.2
P.Gilroy, ‘One Nation Under a Groove: the Cultural Politics of Race’ in David Theo Goldberg (ed.), Anatomy of Racism (University of Minnesota Press, 1990) [also published in P.Gilroy, Small Acts (Serpent’s Tail, 1993)]
C.Husbands, ‘British racisms: the construction of racial ideologies’ in C.Husbands (ed.), ‘Race’ in Britain: Continuity and Change (Hutchinson, 1987 [2nd edition])
Z.Layton-Henry, The Politics of Race in Britain (Allen and Unwin, 1984) chpt. 6 & 7
B.Parekh, ‘The "new right" and the politics of nationhood’ in Runnymede Trust, The New Right: Image and Reality (Runnymede, 1987)
A.Sivanandan, ‘Millwall and after’, Race and Class, Vol.35, No.3, pp.63-68 [also published in New Statesman and Society, 15 October 1993]
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.8
M. Walker, The National Front (Fontana, 1977)
Additional Reading
M.Billig, Facists: a social psychological view of the National Front (Academic Press, 1978)
M.Billig and A.Bell, ‘Fascist Parties in Post-War Britain’, Sage Race Relations Abstracts, Vol.5, No.1, pp.1-30 [bibliographic essay]
P. Cohen, ‘The Perversions of Inheritance: Studies in the Making of Multi-Racist Britain’ in P. Cohen and H. Bains (eds.), Multi-Racist Britain (Macmillan, 1988)
R.Cohen, Frontiers of Identity: The British and the Others (Longman, 1994)
R.Colls and P.Dodd, Englishness: Politics and Culture 1880-1920, (Croom Helm, 1986)
N.Fielding, The National Front (Routledge, 1981)
G.Freeman, Immigrant Labour and Racial Conflict in Industrial Societies (Princeton, 1979)
P.Gordon and F.Klug, New Right/New Racism (Searchlight, 1986)
H.Goulbourne, ‘From imperial Britain to national British’ in Ethnicity and nationalism in post-imperial Britain (CUP, 1991)
M.Hanna, ‘The rise of the National Front’, New Community, No.3, pp.49-55
M. Harrop, J. England & C. Husbands, ‘The basis of National Front Support’, Political Studies, 1980
C.Husbands, Racial Exclusionism and the City: The Urban Support of the National Front (Allen and Unwin, 1983)
C. Husbands, ‘Extreme Right Wing Politics in Great Britain: The Recent Marginalisation of the National Front’, West European Politics, April 1988
C. Husbands, ‘The National Front: A Response to Crisis’, New Society, 15 may 1977
C.Husbands & J.England, ‘The Hidden Support for Racism’, New Statesman, 11 May 1979
Edward Pilkington, ‘Bark of the Dogs of War’, The Guardian, 16 September 1993, Section 2, pp.2-3 [on the rise of, and resistance to, the British National Party]
D. Scott, ‘The National Front in Local Politics: some interpretations’ in I.Crewe (ed.), The Politics of Race (Croom Helm, 1975)
G.Seidel, ‘The concept of culture, "race" and nation in the British and French new right’ in R.Levitas (ed.), The Ideology of the New Right (Polity, 1986)
M. Steed, ‘The National Front Vote’, Parliamentary Affairs, 1978
S.Taylor, The National Front in English Politics (Macmillan, 1982)
S. Taylor, ‘The National Front: Anatomy of a Political Movement’ in R. Miles & A.Phizachlea, Racism & Political Action in Britain (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979)
R.Thurlow, ‘National Front Ideology’, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol.9, No.1, pp.1-9
B. Troyna, ‘The Media and the Electoral Decline of the National Front’, Patterns of Prejudice, 1980
For up-to-date information on the activities of neo-fascist and extreme right groups see
The journals CARF -Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and Searchlight.
For examples of New Right literature on ‘race’ and
nation see:
J.Casey, ‘One nation: the politics of race’, The Salisbury Review, Autumn 1982, pp.23-28
E.J.Mishan, ‘What Future for a Multi-Racial Britain?’, The Salisbury Review, Vol.6, No.4, 18-27
F.Palmer (ed.), Anti-Racism - An Assault on Education and Value (The Sherwood Press, 1986)
Web site(s): Statewatch
Home Page
Searchlight
British National Party Home Page
Campaign Against Racism and Fascism
HateWatch
Anti-Fascist Action
Seminar Questions: See questions on front of specified reading
Week 8: The politics of resistance
This lecture examines the nature and impact of black political struggle in contemporary Britain. The lecture attempts to delineate the complex and rich diversity of contemporary forms of black political mobilisation and to highlight the historical tensions between macro and micro forms of political activity within black communities. Here the lecture focuses on the way in which political activity has been structured by the interplay of race, ethnicity, gender and class.
Basic Reading
G.Ben-Tovim, J.Gabriel, I.Law and K.Stredder, The Local Politics of Race (Macmillan, 1986) chpt.5
P.Gilroy, ‘Steppin’ out of Babylon - race, class and autonomy’ in CCCS, The Empire Strikes Back: Racism and race in 70s Britain (Hutchinson, 1982)
Paul Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (Routledge, 1987) chpt.6
C.Gutzmore, ‘Carnival, the State and the Black Masses in the United Kingdom’ in W.James and C.Harris, Inside Babylon: The Carribean Diaspora in Britain (Verso, 1993)
Sasha Josephides, ‘Principles, strategies and anti-racist campaigns: the case of the Indian Workers’ Association’ in H.Goulbourne (ed.), Black Politics in Britain (Avebury, 1990)
Everton Pryce, ‘Culture from Below: Politics, Resistance and Leadership in the Notting Hill Gate Carnival: 1976-1978’ in H.Goulbourne (ed.), Black Politics in Britain (Avebury, 1990)
Kalbir Shukra, ‘Black sections in the Labour Party’ in H.Goulbourne, Black Politics in Britain (Avebury, 1990)
A.Sivanadan, ‘From Resistance to Rebellion’ in A Different Hunger (Pluto, 1982)
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.9
J.Solomos and L.Back, ‘Black Political Mobilisation and the Struggle for Equality’, Sociological Review, Vol.39, No.2, pp.215-237
Additional Reading
T.Carter, Shattering Illusions (Lawrence and Wishart, 1986) chpts.4 & 5
Abner Cohen, Masquerade Politics: Explorations in the Structure of Urban Cultural Movements (Berg, 1993) [analysis of the politics of the Notting Hill Carnival]
J.Cheetham, ‘Ethnic Associations in Britain’ in S.Jenkins (ed.), Ethnic Associations and the Welfare State (Columbia University Press, 1988)
M.Fitzgerald, Political Parties and Black People (Runnymede Trust, 1984)
H.Goulbourne, ‘The contribution of West Indian groups to British Politics’ in H.Gouldborne, Black Politics in Britain (Avebury, 1990)
S.Hall, ‘The gulf between Labour and Blacks’, The Guardian, 15 June 1985
B.Heineman, The Politics of the Powerless: A Study of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (OUP, 1972)
Barnor Hesse, ‘Black to Front and Black Again: Racialisation through contested times and spaces, in M.Keith and S.Pile (eds.), Place and the Politics of Identity (Routledge, 1993)
S.Jeffers, ‘Black sections in the Labour Party: the end of ethnicity and "Godfather" politics’ in P.Werbner and M.Anwar (eds.), Black and Ethnic Leaderships: the Cultural Dimension of Political Action (Routledge, 1991)
Z. Layton-Henry, The Politics of Immigration: Immigration, ‘Race’ and ‘Race’ Relations in Post-war Britain (Blackwell, 1992) chpt.5
C.Mullard, Black Britain (George Allen and Unwin, 1973) Parts I & IV
D.Pearson, Race, Class and Political Activism (Gower, 1981) chpt.7 and Postscript
A.Phizacklea and R.Miles, Labour and Racism (Routledge, 1980) Chpts.7 & 8
R.Ramdin, The Making of the Black Working Class in Britain (Gower, 1987) chpts.10 & 11
S.Saggar, Race and Politics in Britain (Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992) chpts.5 & 6
A.Sivanandan, Communities of Resistance: writings on black struggles for socialism (Verso, 1990) chpts.3 & 5
Web site(s): Blink (black information link) hompage
Seminar Questions: Is there a black politics in Britain?
Week 9: The politics of rebellion
This lecture pursues many of the themes covered so far
during the course to examine what is perhaps the defining moment in the
politics of race in contemporary Britain, namely the widespread urban unrest
of the early and mid 1980s. It analyses the specific conjuncture of racist
ideology, racialised policing and confrontational forms of black political
mobilisation that gave rise to these events and examines the ideological
and political factors which determined policy responses to them. The lecture
considers the ways in which the political discourse of both the state and
black communities continues to be shaped by these seminal moments.
Basic reading
J.Benyon and J.Solomos (eds.), The Roots of Urban Unrest (Pergamon, 1987) chpts.1-3, 5, 8, 12 & 20
J. Benyon (ed.), Scarman and After (Pergamon, 1984) pp.37-98 & 163-183
G.Dear, Handsworth/Lozells, September 1985: the Report of the Chief Constable (West Midlands Police, 1985)
P.Gilroy, ‘The myth of black criminality’, Socialist Register 1982
P.Gordon, ‘Inquiring into the "Riots": A Review of Reports on the 1985 Urban Disorders’, Sage Race Relations Abstracts, Vol.12, No.3, pp.4-22
M. Keith, ‘Something Happened: The problems of explaining the 1980 and 1981 riots in British cities’, in P.Jackson (ed.), Race and Racism: Essays in Social Geography (Allen and Unwin, 1987)
M. Keith, Race, Riots and Policing: Lore and Disorder in a Multi-racist Society (UCL Press, 1993) Part II
Z. Layton-Henry, ‘Reports of the Riots in Handsworth/Lozells 1985’, New Community 1986
J.Lea and J.Young, ‘Urban violence and political marginalisation: the riots in Britain, summer 1981’, Critical Social Policy, Vol.1 No.3
H. Ouseley et al (eds.), A Different Reality: An Account of Black People’s Experiences and Their Grievances Before and After the Handsworth Rebellion of September 1985 (West Midlands County Council, 1986)
Lord Scarman, The Brixton Disorders 10-12 April 1981: Report of an Inquiry by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Scarman OBE (HMSO, 1981 [Cmnd 8427])
A.Sivanandan, ‘From Resistance to Rebellion’ in A Different Hunger (Pluto, 1982)
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.7
Additional Reading
M.Barker and A.Beezer, ‘The language of racism: an examination of Lord Scarman’s report on the Brixton riots’, International Socialism, No.18
R.Behrens, ‘The Scarman Report: a British view’, Political Quarterly, Vol.53, No.2
M.Cain and S.Sadigh, ‘Racism, the police and community policing: a comment on the Scarman report’, Journal of Law and Society, Vol.9, No.1
N.Deakin, ‘Lord Scarman’s bran tub: an episode in the politics of urban disorder’, London Journal, Vol.8, No.1
Lord A, Gifford, The Broadwater Farm Inquiry: Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Disturbances of October 1985 at the Broadwater Farm Estate, Tottenham, Chaired by Lord Gifford QC (1986)
Lord A.Gifford, Broadwater Farm revisited: 2nd report of the Independent Inquiry into the Disturbances of October 1985 at the Broadwater Farm Estate, Tottenham, Chaired by Lord Gifford QC (1987)
Brian Jacobs, ‘Riot and Dissent’ in Black Politics and Urban Crisis in Britain (CUP, 1986)
H.Joshua and T.Wallace, To Ride the Storm: the 1980 Bristol ‘Riot’ and the State (Heinemann, 1983)
M.Kettle, ‘Will 1982 See More Riots’, New Society, 18 February 1982
M.Kettle and L.Hodges, Uprising: the police, the people and the riots in Britain’s cities (Pan, 1982)
G.Murdock, ‘Reporting the riots: images and impact’ in J. Benyon (ed.), Scarman and After (Pergamon Press, 1984)
J. Rex, ‘The 1981 Urban Riots in Britain’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 1982
J.Sim, ‘Scarman: the police counter-attack’, Socialist Register 1982
C.Sumner, ‘"Political hooliganism" and "rampaging mobs": the national press coverage of the Toxteth "riots"’ in C.Sumner (ed.), Crime, Justice and Mass Media (Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, 1982)
C.Unsworth, ‘The riots of 1981: popular violence and the politics of law and order’, Journal of Law and Society, Vol.9, No.1
Videos: Viewpoint 86: after the riots (1986) & Black and Blue: 1981 Revisited (1991)
Seminar Questions: Have disturbances, or the threat of them, been a more effective lever and instrument of reform for ethnic minority groups than their participation in the ‘mainstream’ of British politics?
Week 10: The politics of difference
This final lecture of term one considers the changing nature of the politics of race in contemporary Britain in the face of the increasingly complex dynamics of ethnicity, religion and culture. It critically examines the notion of a coherent and unified ‘black’ community and highlights the ways in which an increasing emphasis on ethnic particularism has uncovered a whole host of new tensions and contradictions in the political arena. The lecture examines how, in recent years, these issues have become centrally important to debates about the nature of ‘Britishness’ and the status of the UK as a multicultural society. The lecture analyses a number of recent examples of political mobilisation centred around religious and culturally-specific forms of identity and discusses ideological and political responses that have emerged to them.
Basic Reading
A.Brah, ‘Difference, diversity, differentiation: processes of racialisation and gender’, in J. Wrench and J. Solomos (eds.), Racism and Migration in Western Europe (Berg, 1993) [also published in J.Donald and A.Rattansi (eds.), ‘Race’, Culture & Difference (Sage, 1992)]
P.Gilroy, ‘It Ain’t Where You’re From, It’s Where You’re At ... The Dialectics of Diasporic Identification’, Third Text, No. 13, pp. 3-16 91 [also published in P.Gilroy, Small Acts (Serpent’s Tail, 1993)]
H.Goulbourne, ‘From imperial Britain to national British’ in Ethnicity and nationalism in post-imperial Britain (CUP, 1991) chpts.6 & 8
H.Goulbourne, ‘Aspects of Nationalism and Black Identities in Post-imperial Britain’ in M.Cross and M.Keith (eds.) Racism, the City and the State (Routledge, 1993)
S.Hall, ‘Old and New identities, Old and New Ethnicities’, in A.D.King (ed.), Culture, Globalisation and the World System (Macmillan, 1991)
K.Mercer, ‘Welcome to the Jungle: Identity and Diversity in Postmodern Politics’, in J.Rutherford (ed.), Identity: Community, Culture, Difference (Lawrence and Wishart, 1990)
T.Modood, ‘"Black" racial equality and Asian identity’, New Community, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.397-404
T.Modood, ‘Not Easy Being British’: colour, culture and citizenship (Trentham Books and Runnymede Trust, 1992) chpts.5, 6, 8 & 9
B.Parekh, ‘British Citizenship and Cultural Difference’ in G.Andrews (ed.), Citizenship (Lawrence and Wishart, 1991)
J.Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (Macmillan, 1993) chpt.10
Nira Yuval-Davis, ‘Fundamentalism, multiculturalism and women in Britain’ in J.Donald and A.Rattansi (eds.), ‘Race’, Culture & Difference (Sage, 1992)]
Additional Reading
Claire Alexander, The Art of Being Black: The Creation of Black British Youth Identities (OUP, 1996)
Sharon J. Daye, Middle-Class Blacks in Britain (Macmillan, 1994)
Claire Dwyer, ‘Constructions of Muslim Identity and the Contesting of Power: the debate over Muslim schools in the United Kingdom’ in P.Jackson and J.Penrose (ed.), Constructions of Race, Place and Nation (UCL Press, 1993)
P.Gilroy, ‘The peculiarities of the black English’ in Small Acts (Serpent’s Tail, 1993)
W.James, ‘Migration, Racism and Identity: The Caribbean Experience in Britain’, New Left Review, 193, pp. 15-55 [also published in W.James and C.Harris, Inside Babylon: The Carribean Diaspora in Britain (Verso, 1993)]
S.Jeffers, ‘Is Race Really the Sign of the Times Or Is Postmodernism Only Skin Deep? Black Sections and the problem of authority’ in M.Cross and M.Keith (eds.) Racism, the City and the State (Routledge, 1993)
Apurba Kundu, ‘The Ayodhya Aftermath: Hindu versus Muslim Violence in Britain’, Immigrants and Minorities, Vol.13, No.1, pp.26-47
Daniele Joly, Britania’s Crescent: Making a Place for Muslims in British Society (Avebury, 1995)
T.Modood, S.Beishon and S.Virdee, Changing Ethnic Identities (Policy Studies Institute, 1994)
P.Parmar, ‘Black Feminism: the Politics of Articulation’, in J.Rutherford (ed.), Identity: Community, Culture, Difference (Lawrence and Wishart, 1990)
G.Sahgal and N.Yuval-Davies (eds.), Refusing Holy Orders (Virago, 1992)
For analysis of the political controversy surrounding
Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses see
S.Akhtar, Be Careful With Muhammad! The Salman Rushdie Affair (Bellew Publishing, 1989)
L.Appignanesi and S.Maitland (eds.), The Rushdie File (Fourth Estate, 1990)
T.Asad, ‘Multiculturalism and British Identity in the Wake of Rushdie Affair’, Politics and Society, Vol.18, No.4, pp. 455-480
T.Asad, ‘Ethnography, Literature, and Politics: Some Readings and Uses of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses’, Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 239-269
T.Modood, ‘British Asians Muslims and the Rushdie Affair’, Political Quarterly, Vol.62, No.2 [also published in J.Donald and A.Rattansi (eds.), ‘Race’, Culture & Difference (Sage, 1992)]
M.Ruthven, A Satanic Affair (Chatto and Windus, 1990)
Y.Samad, ‘Book burning and race relations: Political mobilisation of Bradford Muslims’, New Community, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 507-519
Web site(s): Border
Crossings
Islamic Party
of Britain
Black Interchange
Blink (black information link) hompage
Video: Mosaic - What’s in a Name? (1989)
Seminar Questions: Are the interests of ethnic minorities in Britain best served by highlighting or ignoring the differences of class, gender, religion, culture, etc between them.?
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