Racial Formation Research Articles

The Defense of the Adoption of Critical Social Theory as a Framework for African Universities

With coloniality, thought itself became discriminatory and was categorized into racial forms. That discrimination and categorization of thought gave rise to the idea that philosophy itself must be differentially categorized as either Western, Eastern, or African as if thought has a race and geographic location. The issue at this age is that those categorizations get serious to the extent that it is unthinkable that African scholars can benefit from any thought system except from African philosophy. This paper argued that those vices dent human enlightenment and developmental progress. Within that purpose, this paper used an analytic theoretical framework to argue that it is an unguided racist view that there is no benefit for African scholars in Western philosophy. The adoption of Critical Social Theory was selected as one case whereby an African rural university received a plethora of criticisms as being hypocritical in the decolonization mission. Among the findings of this study one important aspect came out more clearly, that humans love unity rather than division according to race, class and so on. This study recommends that decolonization should be embraced willingly with a clear realization that humanity is one race rather than a divided existence. This study posits that having a proper perspective of decolonization will eliminate hypocrisy among scholars and create that realization of human knowledge as one racial epistemology. Keywords: Coloniality, Philosophy, Academic Discrimination, Decolonization, Theoretic Operandi.

At the gate to Australia’s heavenly peace: Asian racialization and Australia’s Tiananmen Chinese

ABSTRACT This paper considers the racialization of Asians in Australia through the dialectic of the “yellow peril” and “model minority”. It uses the specific historical case study of People’s Republic of China nationals in Australia at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989) who were ultimately given permanent residence. Through analysis of archival sources and Australia’s print media in this period (1989–1993), the article identifies how the Tiananmen Chinese were at once characterized as educated, hard-working and worthy additions to the Australian nation (model minority), while also appearing as a threat to the order and integrity of the immigration system (yellow peril). The article draws on Asian American theorist Colleen Lye’s argument about the economistic character of Asian racial form. By using her framework, I suggest the value of deepening engagements with Asian American studies in examining the racialization of Asians in Australia.

Society of Family Planning Research Practice Support: Strategies and considerations for addressing race and racism in quantitative family planning studies

ObjectiveFamily planning researchers have not critically engaged with topics of race, racism, and associated concepts like ethnicity. This lack of engagement contributes to the reproduction of research that reifies racial hierarchies rather than illuminates, and interrupts, the processes by which racism affects health. This research practice support paper lays out considerations and best practices for addressing race and racism in quantitative family planning research. Study DesignWe are scholars with racialized identities and expertise in racial health equity in family planning research. We draw from scholarship and guidance across disciplines to examine common shortcomings in the use and analysis of race and racism and propose practices for rigorous use of these concepts in quantitative family planning research. ResultsWe recommend articulating the role of race and racism in the development of the research question, authorship and positionality, study design, data collection, analytic approach, and interpretation of analyses. Definitions of relevant concepts and additional resources are provided. ConclusionFamily planning and racism are inextricably linked. Failing to name and analyze the pathways through which structural racism affects family planning and the people who need or want to plan if, when, or how to become pregnant or parent may reproduce harmful and incorrect beliefs about the causes of health inequities and the attributes of Black, Indigenous, and other people racialized as non-white. Family planning researchers should critically study racism and race with procedures grounded in appropriate and articulated theory, evidence, and analytic approaches. ImplicationsFamily planning research can better contribute to efforts to eliminate racialized health inequities, and avoid perpetuating harmful beliefs and conceptualizations of race, by ensuring that they study race and racism with procedures grounded in appropriate and articulated theory, evidence, and analytic approaches.

Musical Instruments as Scriptive Things: Instrument-Body Interactions & Racial Play in the Brazilian Music Scene in Austin, Texas

ABSTRACT This article views musical instruments in the Brazilian music scene of Austin, Texas as scriptive things (Bernstein 2009) —material objects that “assert” themselves by demanding specific human interactions. This perspective offers a means to examine how racialized ideas come to be learned and embodied via particular subject-object relations. I argue that white Americans’ engagement in the scene often constitutes a form of racial drag or play, wherein ideas about—and the boundaries of—blackness and whiteness are ultimately reified. This article contributes to the broad scope and intersectionality of organology by merging Performance Studies and Ethnomusicological approaches to racial formation.

Your Grandfather Is Wong Tin Lee

In this autoethnography, the author uses racial formation theory to contextualize her family experiences and the life story told to her by her grandmother. In an effort to clarify some aspects of family history after her grandmother passed away, the author searched Australian archival records looking for new information and accidentally uncovered a family secret. Specifically, their ancestors were neither upper class nor were they all white Europeans; the family story in Australia actually begins with an interracial marriage between a man from Canton, China, and a white woman born into extreme poverty. Moreover, two generations of children in this multiracial family had been removed from their parents and placed in institutions and foster families. The family history presented here challenges assumptions about what it means to be Australian and who was living in the Australian colonies at the time of Australian Federation. White Australia is explored as both an immigration policy and as a racial project that shaped the lives of non-whites living in Australia, including that of Chinese and multiracial Australians like the author’s maternal ancestors.

Making the Latino South: A History of Racial Formation by Cecilia Márquez (review)

Making the Latino South: A History of Racial Formation by Cecilia Márquez (review)

A Critical Race Analysis of Resilience and Resistance in Domingo’s Breaking The Maafa Chain

This study examines the experiences of black African Americans within a white-dominated society while focusing on double consciousness, racial micro-aggressions, the historical implications of the slave trade, and systemic suppression. The primary aim of this study is to highlight the harsh realities of enslavement and the enduring struggle to preserve African heritage. Racism, a socially constructed phenomenon, subjects black individuals to frequent racial discrimination. This research aims to raise awareness and challenge the facade of superiority maintained by the white-dominated society. The selected novel explores the various forms of racial discrimination against African Americans, shedding light on the subtle attacks they face while striving to preserve their identity. Additionally, the study investigates the issues of identity and freedom by analyzing the relationship between the two sisters in the novel under disquisition. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory, this research analyzes the portrayal of black lives and their resilience against white supremacy through Domingo’s novel Breaking The Maafa Chain, a piercing and sensitive representation of suppressed or marginalized Afro-Americans. Critical Race Theory serves as a framework to address the issues of racial discrimination. The research methodology employed in this study is purely qualitative, analytical, and descriptive, and it involves a close textual analysis of the novel within the domain of critical race theory.

The Rise of Islamophobia in India: Violation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom of Indian Muslims

This article examines Islamophobia in India and its impact on the human rights and basic liberties of Indian Muslims. Islamophobia is a new form of racism that has grown out of xenophobia, negative profiling, and stereotyping of Muslims. This article focuses upon the current state of Islamophobia, basic liberties, hate speech, discrimination, and violence against Muslims. These acts of prejudice, animosity, and violence against Muslim communities are major infringements on their human rights and a violation of their religious freedom. The BJP has been promoting a number of evil anti-Muslim policies, including discriminatory citizenship laws, the lynching of Muslims on suspicion of consuming or transporting beef and a ban on communal prayers. We conclude that the institutionalisation of Islamophobia through new laws and policies have a negative impact on Muslims’ human rights and religious freedom in India. Similarly, the media in India also promotes Islamophobia.

Perspectives on Using Race in Pulmonary Function Testing: A National Survey Fellows and Program Directors.

Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) have historically used race-specific prediction equations. The recent American Thoracic Society guidelines recommend the use of a race-neutral approach in prediction equations. There are limited studies centering the opinions of practicing pulmonologists on the use of race in spirometry. Provider opinion will impact adoption of the new guideline. The aim of this study was to ascertain the beliefs of academic pulmonary and critical care providers regarding the use of race as a variable in spirometry prediction equations. We report data from 151 open-ended responses from a voluntary, nationwide survey (distributed by the Association of Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine Program Directors) of academic pulmonary and critical care providers regarding the use of race in PFT prediction equations. Responses were coded using inductive and deductive methods, and a thematic content analysis was conducted. There was a balanced distribution of opinions among respondents supporting, opposing, or being unsure about the incorporation of race in spirometry prediction equations. Responses demonstrated a wide array of understanding related to the concept and definition of race and its relationship to physiology. There was no consensus among providers regarding the use of race in spirometry prediction equations. Concepts of race having biologic implications persist among pulmonary providers and will likely affect the uptake of the Global Lung Function Initiative per the American Thoracic Society guidelines.

Experiences of racism of Black medical students and residents in Montréal: "I wear my stethoscope around my neck at all times".

Black students and residents experience racism in medical school. This qualitative study documents Black students' and residents' experiences of racism using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and explores their coping mechanisms using the theatrical metaphor. We conducted semi-structured interviews with four Black medical students and residents (two medical students and two residents) studying in Montréal and analyzed their experiences through counter-stories. We identified themes related to their experiences of racism during medical training and their coping mechanisms. Our analysis reveals these experiences of racism occur in academic and clinical settings (classes, internships, social interactions with peers, faculty, and patients, and through the curriculum), in the form of microaggressions. The analysis also indicates that Black students and residents try to cope with racism using a hyper-ritualization strategy to better fit in (e.g., clothing, behaviours). Considering that Black students and residents experience various forms of racism (subtle or explicit) during their medical training, these findings urge us to increase awareness about racism of students, residents, teachers and health care workers in universities and teaching hospitals. Pathways to increase the representation of Black students and residents seem to be part of the solution, but improving the learning environment must be a priority to achieve racial justice in medical training in Québec.

"Isolation by Gentes with Asymmetric Migration" shapes the genetic structure of the common cuckoo in China.

Amid coevolutionary arms races between brood parasitic birds and their diverse host species, the formation of host-specific races, or gentes, has drawn significant research focus. Nevertheless, numerous questions about gentes evolutionary patterns persist. Here, we investigated the potential for gentes evolution across multiple common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) populations parasitizing diverse host species in China. Using maternal (mitochondrial and W-linked DNA) and biparental (autosomal and Z-linked DNA) markers, we found consistent clustering of cuckoo gentes (rather than geographical populations) into distinct clades in matrilineal gene trees, indicating robust differentiation. In contrast, biparental markers indicated intermixing of all gentes, suggesting asymmetric gene flow regardless of geography. Unlike the mitonuclear discordance commonly resulting from incomplete lineage sorting, adaptive introgression, or demographic disparities, the observed pattern in brood parasitic cuckoos might reflect biased host preferences between sexes. We hereby present the "Isolation by Gentes with Asymmetric Migration" model. According to this model, the maternal line differentiation of the common cuckoo in China is potentially driven by host preferences in females, whereas males maintained the integrity of the cuckoo species through random mating. To achieve this, cuckoo males could perform flexible migration among gentes or engage in early copulation with females before reaching the breeding sites, allowing female cuckoos to store sperm from various gentes. Future studies collecting additional samples from diverse cuckoo gentes with overlapping distribution and investigating the migratory and copulation patterns of each sex would enhance our understanding of sex-biased differentiation among cuckoo populations in China.

Uses and abuses of the concept of race in genomics of sport performance and sport-related traumatic brain injury: epistemological and ethical considerations

ABSTRACT In this article, we tackle the epistemological and ethical issues related to the use of race concepts in the genomics of sport performance and sport-related concussion (SRC). In the first part of the article, we show how the concept of race is ubiquitous in scientific literature, besides the fact that ‘race’ as other analogous population descriptors like ‘ancestry’ and ‘continent’ carry ancestral genetic heterogeneity and therefore they cannot be used to infer any kind of genetic or physiological property. Then, we investigate the question of whether genomics research focusing on racial categories and race-specific genes of sport performance and of risk of health outcomes due to repetitive head impacts (RHI) is justified from an epistemological point of view, arguing that it is not; we show that the evidence supporting the existence of genetic variants determining an elite athlete status or a predisposition to health outcomes after SRC is scarce, and the use of racial categories (e.g. African or Black, Caucasian or White, Asian, etc.) as proxies for genetic variants associated with an elite athlete status/a predisposition to health outcomes after SRC is ill-conceived. In the second part of the article, we analyze the main ethical issues concerning the reification of race concepts in sport genomics, also considering the more general issue of the ethical and social impact of the use of a genetic framework in the explanation of individual differences in sport performance and SRC.

Housing governance and racialisation: ‘inclusivity’ in housing access and experience

ABSTRACT In March 2022, the UK government refined its approach to tackling systemic inequalities with a seemingly innocuous refrain: ‘inclusivity’. The instilling of shared values and economic development were discursively framed in central government rhetoric as the solutions to existing disparities and processes that were linked to places deemed as deprived. Drawing on data from forty-seven interviews with policy practitioners, anti-racist networks, and racially minoritised residents in two UK sites (Oldham and Glasgow), this article examines the persistent ways that racialised discourses, structures and ideologies shape housing access and experience. The insights generated from this article shed light on housing policy in three ways: firstly, by identifying the pervasiveness of racialisation and racism in social housing allocation systems; secondly, by evidencing the devaluing of anti-racist knowledge and the role of urban development initiatives in erasing anti-racist networks; and, thirdly, by exploring how local practitioners identify the problems of housing inclusivity as rooted in lack of residential mixing and inter-personal racism, rather than operating institutionally. The article concludes that adopting an approach that is attentive to institutional forms of whiteness and racialisation enhances understanding of the policy landscapes within which practitioners operate, and the existing racial injustices in housing experience that are reproduced.

Maintaining spatial and social order: the role of housing development in governing urban margins

This paper investigates processes of spatially ordered marginality of Roma in a former industrial town in Hungary. The analysis focuses on local poverty governance tactics and practices that aim to maintain social and spatial order through the regulation and selective displacement of Roma within the city. These practices of controlling Roma marginality are clear manifestations of the spatialization and racialization of poverty and I argue that spatial containment constitutes a new mode of poverty governance that aims to temper local tensions and cement local power. Moreover, these local policies reflect continuity from socialist era practices in terms of governing Roma marginality through disciplining and displacement. In the present context, EU-funded urban rehabilitation projects represent a vital local resource. While ostensibly targeting social integration, the local government in question has used these resources to promote the mobility of ‘deserving’ vulnerable groups and control ‘undeserving’ marginalized Roma through enclosure. Those who are seen as undeserving are racialized and subject to punitive containment while the ‘deserving’ enjoy material support and a sense of belonging to local society, provided they accept the conditions dictated by local government actors. In this way, the emphasis on individual responsibility masks the structural deficiencies of social housing and related social issues and perpetuates different forms of racism.

Pretos que voam – An Afrocentric Collective Project to Promote the Access of Peripheral Black People to Airline Crew Jobs in Brazil

Summary This case analyses the “Pretos que Voam” (Blacks who Fly) project, which aids the training of socially vulnerable black people to become flight attendants in Brazil. Since 2020, this project has been carried out by the collective Quilombo Aéreo, which brings together black crew members to aid the elimination of racism in aviation. One of the goals of this collective is to increase the representation of black people in the airline industry. Quilombo Aéreo ( 2022 ) conducted a survey of air crew members, using online forms based on self-identification, and found that black people do not reach 5% of active airline crews. The project is supported by crowdfunding and social partnerships like Fundação Tide Setúbal, Fundo Baobá for racial equity Rede de Mulheres Negras, Odabá Associação de Afroempreendedorismo, Movimento Negro Unificado and others. This made it possible to provide a complete course to become a flight attendant, a basic English course, air crew licences and a passport, and mentorship. In 2021, in Porto Alegre (RS), ten black people graduated in the first class – four women among them have already been hired by airlines. In 2022, the project raised funds to provide the first Afro-focused flight school in a distance learning model in Brazil. In 2023, they are working to start the operation of the school and crowdfunded a campaign for the second class of Pretos que Voam. Facing several forms of racism in Brazilian society and its airline industry, the project also dialogues with other forms of violence common in the sector, such as sexism and machismo . The case study examines concrete actions to transform the pain of its pioneers into fuel for structural changes, having as a framework the Afro culture and, as a scenario, a relevant mode of tourism transportation such as air travel. Information This case study originated from research into empowerment and intersectionalities between racism and sexism through the Quilombo Aéreo (see Further Reading). Here we focus specifically on the Pretos que Voam project, one of the actions developed by the collective. All authors are members of the research group Gritus – Gender, Race and Intersectionalities in Tourism , where this study was developed. Information © The Authors 2024

“That does not apply”: graduate students’ (mis)perceptions of the racial climate in STEMM

PurposeThis study aims to explore how science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) graduate students’ experiences with and conceptualizations of racism can more clearly expose the current racial climate across multiple academic institutions.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method approach using a single online questionnaire consisting of open-ended and Likert scale questions about their perceptions of the racial climate in their department was completed by 34 graduate students of different races and STEMM disciplines.FindingsResults from this study suggested that graduate students, regardless of race, consistently perceive STEMM as colorblind. The results also suggest that experiencing or witnessing racial discrimination is potentially predictive of perceptions of negative social support. Furthermore, multiracial and international graduate students often face different experiences of discrimination than do other graduate students.Originality/valueBy better understanding STEMM academic climates, higher education institutions can begin to reflect on the social barriers that may limit minoritized students from matriculating in academic STEMM spaces and affect retention.

Marxism and the Critique of Antisemitism

Abstract Antisemitism is an increasingly prevalent aspect of public life in the West, both as a consequence of the growth of the far right across the board and through its mobilisation against Palestinian liberation and Palestine solidarity activism. While synagogues are targeted and far-right politicians revive ideas of Jewish global power, it is the left, Muslims, and Palestinians that are continuously constructed as the source of the current rise in hatred and violence against Jews. If historically the Marxist tradition engaged actively with the so-called Jewish question, in recent decades the subject has receded from focus. This shift took place as other forms of racism – directed at Muslims, Black populations, or migrants – became the basis for reactionary politics in the West. This article argues that while some of the assumptions that underwrote classical Marxist texts on the issue have been found wanting – perhaps most notably the inevitable (or desirable) character of the trend towards assimilation – they remain important starting points for making sense of our present, both by their method and their political commitment to liberation.

Racial Fictions at Work in a Regional Plantation Complex

In this article, I argue for a local and regional focus on landscape racializations rather than a national lens for engaging with the Plantationocene. Racial formations on and around Indonesia’s plantations have emerged differently across regions and through varied colonial-era and contemporary land and labor politics. Inspired by diverse scholars’ historical and contemporary treatments of embodied and emplaced racialisms, I use a region in West Kalimantan Province (Indonesian Borneo) to argue that it is misleading to claim a national-level Plantationocene history relevant to all subnational regions. I then unpack racialized and gendered fictions deployed by state actors to justify the protracted political violence (1967–74) that led to the national state’s expropriation of land held by smallholders of Chinese and Chinese-Dayak descent in half the province. All seized land was reclassified as state land to mask its origins and redistributed to non-Chinese local people and transmigrants who worked the regional rubber plantation. This violent reracializing of the West Kalimantan landscape is the antithesis of the racialisms associated with plantation production in Java and Sumatra. Knowing this region-specific history can help in supporting contemporary struggles against entrenched patterns of racialized injustice.

The history of science through the prism of race

Abstract One methodological approach to grasping a ‘big-picture’ history of modern science involves tracing the complex entanglements between scientific knowledge and the development of racism and racialized economic systems. Indeed, no historical account of any scientific field can be complete without acknowledging the role of race as an intellectual, social or economic factor. We substantiate this argument through a synthetic review of three overlapping threads in the historiography of science. First, historical research on ‘race science’ has analysed the formation of disciplines directly involved in constructing scientific concepts of race, including medicine, anthropology, linguistics, phrenology, psychology, archaeology and genetics. Second, historians have demonstrated that connections between race and science are not limited to the domain of race science. Rather, European imperial expansion, colonialism and capitalism created the foundational infrastructures undergirding the emergence of modern professional science. Finally, new research shows how race remains covertly embedded in theoretical frameworks, statistical formulae and technological devices still used by scientists today. Through these examples, we perceive a big-picture history of science in which its co-constitution with race links localized case studies and imperial narratives across space and time.

Indirect Discrimination and the Hospital Relocation Cases

ABSTRACTThis article develops a theory of indirect discrimination by analyzing a series of lawsuits that challenged hospital relocations in the 1970s. In these cases, civil rights groups argued that the relocation of hospitals from cities to suburbs was a form of racial discrimination. Although these lawsuits failed, I aim to support the plaintiffs' arguments that the hospital relocations were discriminatory. Drawing on three recent theories – those of Benjamin Eidelson, Deborah Hellman, and Sophia Moreau – I develop an account of indirect discrimination that is rooted in resource‐specific equality rights such as those found in international human rights law. Building on this account, I argue that the human right to health equity can explain why the hospital relocations were discriminatory.