Race Relations Research Articles

Collective action success factors and community satisfaction in Malaysia’s urban commons

This study examines maintenance and management in socio-economically grounded multi-owned low-cost housing schemes in Malaysia, employing an augmented institutional analysis framework. Focusing on collective action success factors, the research addresses two main questions: ‘How does the influence of the six collective action success factors impact community satisfaction?’ and ‘To what extent does the income of parcel holders contribute to the success factors affecting community satisfaction within collective action?’ Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this study encompasses a survey of 633 parcel holders in Greater Kuala Lumpur and subsequent interviews with local leadership. Successful self-management of common properties was influenced by the physical environment, social capital, rules-in-use, stakeholders’ interest, adaptation, and racial relationships. Additionally, income acted as a moderator between community satisfaction level and physical environment attributes, as well as stakeholders’ interests. This research recommends government subsidies for multi-owned low-cost housing maintenance, contributing policy insights to the global housing discourse.

Digital peacekeeping, cyborg soldiers and militarised masculinities: a posthuman critique

ABSTRACT This article contends that digital technologies are profoundly altering peacekeeping practices as well as peacekeeper consciousness and modes of being. It is proposed that combining postcolonial humanist and posthumanist ontological perspectives when undertaking ethnographic research enrichens investigations into global race and gender power relations in peacekeeping. Drawing on posthumanism and Bourdieusian practice theory, the article examines how 16 British infantry soldiers articulate reconnaissance and civilian protection experiences and construct their militarised masculinities prior to and after deployment to United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in 2020–2021. Findings show that deployment to a high-risk, stressful mission and functioning as ‘information processing devices’ in an increasingly centralised UN peacekeeping system disempowers and emasculates the men. The peacekeepers respond by engendering and racialising the British Army’s ‘gender-neutral’ cyborg soldier figuration and draw on virtual gaming syntax and framings to create relational distance between themselves, female colleagues and local populations.

Fugitive Archives: Architecture, Police Photography, and Decolonial Futures

ABSTRACT This paper examines underexplored police photographs of Chinese migrants in Korea under Japanese colonial rule, with a focus on architectural spaces. In 1940, a secret anti-Japanese association known as Ildonghoe was established by a group of Chinese migrants in the Korean city of Incheon. Following the arrest of its members in 1943, Japanese colonial authorities documented with photographs locations and objects related to the organization’s activities. This investigation serendipitously created a photographic archive of architectural spaces in and around Incheon’s Chinatown, many of which have since disappeared. The paper sheds light upon these police photographs as an “accidental archive,” a repository of historical materials that gives rise to unintended outcomes with critical information about certain events, places, and moments. The paper pays particular attention to the peculiarity of police photographs as a form of happenstance yet significant documentation capturing historical moments that might otherwise remain elusive. Reading against the grain of colonial archives, this paper shows how the Ildonghoe photographs invite viewers to envision a different narrative of the racial relations forged under colonial rule and imagine decolonial futures that have yet to come.

#BetterTogether: examining race-related crisis communication on a university campus

ABSTRACT This case study examines crisis communication during a series of racial incidents at the University of Oklahoma (OU) using the discourse of renewal theory and corporate responsibility to race (CRR) theory. Crisis messaging analysis showed organizational learning, ethical communication, prospective vision, and engaging rhetoric differences. OU’s crisis messaging differed greatly from its mission statement’s DEI goals. Conversely, several campus organizations more successfully communicated relationship management and emotional intelligence than OU. Comparison to preceding leadership during previous racial incidents showed stakeholders perceived previous racial incidents were better handled. Our study expands on discourse of renewal and CRR by showing key stakeholders – students, faculty, staff, and alumni – want racial incidents handled swiftly and decisively, with a clear university-level commitment to DEI efforts. In a U.S. higher education climate fraught with anti-DEI sentiment and tense racial relations this study shows the responsibility of leadership in responding to racial crises and stakeholder-preferred responses.

Powderly and the worker awakening: speaking to the South in 1885

ABSTRACT Throughout his 1885 speaking tour across the South, Terence Powderly both respected and challenged the region’s color line. Dedicated to growing the Knights of Labor (KOL) membership in the rapidly industrializing South, Powderly asked white and black workers to recognize their common cause in protesting their new wage slavery. Recognizing that the KOL’s vision of a cooperative commonwealth depended on a racially unified and enlarged union membership, Powderly pushed the notion of worker equality while respecting the South’s views of social inequality. His variegated approach to racial relations at speaking engagements across seven southern states over a four-week period reflected both a pragmatic approach to growing union membership and a moral courage in pressing against the south’s racial boundaries.

Alice Walker's Portrayal of inequality and unfair treatment towards Women in the Novel "The Color Purple"

This research paper explores Alice Walker's poignant portrayal of inequality and unfair treatment towards women in her seminal novel, "The Color Purple." Through a close analysis of key instances in the text, this paper examines the various forms of oppression faced by female characters, including Celie, Sofia, and Shug Avery. By delving into themes of sexism, racism, and misogyny, this paper aims to highlight Walker's powerful commentary on the systemic injustices endured by women in a patriarchal society. "The Color Purple." Through a comprehensive analysis of key instances in the text, this paper elucidates the pervasive themes of sexism, racism, and misogyny, as experienced by characters such as Celie, Sofia, and Shug Avery. By delving into the socio-cultural context of the early 20th century South, this paper aims to contextualize Walker's portrayal of systemic oppression and its impact on female characters, ultimately underscoring the novel's significance as a powerful commentary on gender and race relations.

Historical Structural Racism in the Built Environment and Physical Health among Residents of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Historical structural racism in the built environment contributes to health inequities, yet to date, research has almost exclusively focused on racist policy of redlining. We expand upon this conceptualization of historical structural racism by examining the potential associations of probable blockbusting, urban renewal, and proximity to displacement from freeway construction, along with redlining, to multiple contemporary health measures. Analyses linked historical structural racism, measured continuously at the census-tract level using archival data sources, to present-day residents' physical health measures drawn from publicly accessible records for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Outcome measures included average life expectancy and the percentage of residents reporting hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, smoking, insufficient sleep, sedentary behavior, and no health insurance coverage. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine separate and additive associations between structural racism and physical health measures. Redlining, probable blockbusting, and urban renewal were associated with shorter life expectancy and a higher prevalence of cardiovascular conditions, risky health behaviors, and residents lacking health insurance coverage. Probable blockbusting and urban renewal had the most consistent correlations with all 8 health measures, while freeway displacement was not reliably associated with health. Additive models explained a greater proportion of variance in health than any individual structural racism measure alone. Moreover, probable blockbusting and urban renewal accounted for relatively more variance in health compared to redlining, suggesting that research should consider these other measures in addition to redlining. These preliminary correlational findings underscore the importance of considering multiple aspects of historical structural racism in relation to current health inequities and serve as a starting point for additional research.

Theories and approaches of social psychology

Social psychology is a field that studies how social thinking, behavior, and influence shape daily lives. This paper examines various social psychology theories, including social cognition, individual identity, and social influences. The main goal is to gain insight into the human behavior and interactions by exploring social, psychological, and sociological theories. The study used a systematic review based on previous research over three months and analyzed 80 research papers, ultimately using 28 papers that mostly covered the aim of this study. The findings highlighted the importance of racial diversity in shaping contemporary race relations and emphasized the need for cohesive yet diverse communities. The analyses revealed that individuals’ tendencies to self-serve inflate their traits’ moral value, influencing others’ self-perceptions and judgments. Innovative approaches such as agent-based modeling offered new perspectives on social dynamics, while identity emerged as a fluid construct shaped by socio-historical contexts. The ecological perspective provided valuable insights into the adaptive relationship between individuals and their environments. This review illuminates the crucial role of social psychology in understanding the complex interplay of individual behaviors, societal influences, and evolving identities. Throughout the paper, the discussion concerns the connection between theories and research and the application of findings to real-life situations. Hence, social psychology provides valuable insights into individual behavior and the social environment.

Do sell-side analysts react too pessimistically to bad news for minority-led firms? Evidence from target price valuations

We find that the adverse impact of bad news on analysts’ valuations is 57% larger when the CEO is Non-White, resulting in more pessimistic valuations for Non-White CEOs relative to their White counterparts. Non-White CEO firms are more likely to surpass analysts’ valuation targets in the subsequent 12 months, suggesting that this racial gap lacks economic justification. To provide further evidence of a racial bias: (1) we triangulate our empirical findings with corroborating evidence from a controlled experiment and (2) we provide evidence that analysts’ valuation disparities towards Non-White CEO firms become larger when race relations are worse. Increases in CEO familiarity attenuate these disparities, suggesting the bias we document appears to be subconscious. Our findings suggest that resources allocated towards educating a firm’s stakeholders about the potential impact of implicit racial biases and increasing self-awareness may be impactful in promoting equality within capital markets.

Black Epistemologies and Music: A Dialogue with Emicida's Sobre crianças, quadris, pesadelos e lições de casa

Abstract: The arts have consistently been interlocutors for Black scholarship in the humanities. Poetry, literature, and music are sources of knowledge for theorizing social realities. This relates to two elements: (a) an epistemology that values the production and spread of oral, subjective, and aesthetic forms of knowledge; (b) the systematic exclusion of Black people from academic spaces, especially in Latin American contexts, which encourages alternative practices of reflection and registry. Many artists actively consider what is produced in the cultural margins to be a strong locus of political and intellectual creativity. In Brazil, the rapper Emicida has been trying to make his artistic projects catalysts for philosophical reflection. His album Sobre crianças, quadris, pesadelos e lições de casa resonates with Asian, African, Black Atlantic, and Latin American sources of knowledge including religious practices, pop culture, and philosophy. It discusses themes such as love, race, racism, history, family, environmental crisis, and work relations through the combination of musical styles from Brazil, specifically, and the Black Atlantic, more generally. This article establishes a dialogue with the theories and debates suggested by this album, thus situating its contribution to Black scholarship and epistemology.

The “bridge character”: Carl Schurz and West German–American rapprochement

In 1952, West Germans and Americans held a joint, year-long observation celebrating the centennial of the arrival of German-born Carl Schurz in the USA. The collaborative, transatlantic celebration served to publicize a historical and cultural relationship between the German and American peoples through the memory of Carl Schurz. State and non-state participants publicly remembered Schurz as the quintessential German–American and a “bridge character” that transcended national borders, occupied an important ideological space, legitimized the Cold War relationship between erstwhile enemies, and perpetuated an on-going process to construct a transnational, cultural identity rooted in Western liberal-democratic political culture. For the US government, the historical character of Carl Schurz also became a means of promoting a liberal heritage in the face of on-going Soviet accusations of American imperialism, warmongering, and poor race relations.

Chronic causes of school violence at secondary schools in South Africa: Case of King Cetshwayo District

This study examines the chronic causes of school violence at secondary schools in South Africa. The prevalence of violence within South African schools has drawn attention from various stakeholders due to its multifaceted nature. It encompasses forms like bullying, factional conflicts, substance-related incidents, and more. Such violence, whether physical or emotional, inflicts severe harm on both individuals and the educational system. A comprehensive report by the South African Institute of Race Relations highlighted the alarming status of school safety, echoing media coverage that underscored the widespread nature of these issues in schools across the nation. Employing an interpretive paradigm and a case study centered on secondary schools in the King Cetshwayo District sought to explore the causes of violence. The purpose of this study is to identify the underlying causes driving this concerning trend, guided by Social Learning and Social-Ecological Development theories. We used a qualitative method to collect data through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analyses. To ensure the credibility of findings, data from multiple sources was triangulated. Analysis of the data followed thematic approach, and findings were presented thematically. Both internal and external factors influence the causes of school violence, according to the findings. Given these findings, we recommended a collaborative and integrated approach among all stakeholders to effectively tackle and mitigate the pervasive issue of school violence.

Race, Ethnicity and Nationality in Sociology

Abstract It aims to understand what makes people similar to others, different from some, and unique to themselves. However, there is room for research in personality to more thoughtfully consider culture, race, and ethnicity in order to better understand individual differences in people’s patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. High impact personality journals rarely include such factors into the interpretation of results, and cross-cultural and ethnic minority publications are limited within the discipline. non-exhaustive overview of how culture, race, and ethnicity are examined in relation to personality, showing that: (1) social structures continue to be neglected in the research, (2) we can learn from research being conducted in neighboring areas, and (3) valuable work is already being done within personality psychology. We offer recommendations that emphasize community based participatory research methods, combined etic-emic approaches, and contextualizing research findings to improve the consideration of culture, race, and ethnicity in personality research. It is argued that the connection between race and ethnic categories is more fundamental, and yet the connection between fighting racism and ethnic pluralism is more problematic than this position implies. Ethnicity and racism are different but connected discourses for articulating collectivity and belongingness, and serve diverse political projects which include those of class and nation building. Their understanding as concrete social relations however, requires attending to gender and class processes and the state., and national identities are salient uniting but also stratifying forces in people’s lives and across societies. and attitudes toward immigration and political trust among different racial and ethnic groups. how and why social inequalities are structured and sustained between different groups in education, work, health, and resource distribution, among other realms of life. as well as Reflecting on the idea of “Race” and the normative significance of race relations is an essential part of the enterprise of political philosophy. The principal goal is to think systematically about whether, and if so how, race should figure in our evaluation of institutional arrangements and power relations, in our treatment of each other within civil society, and in our self-conceptions and group affiliations. This article discusses the idea of race, racism, racial discrimination and social justice, responding to racial injustice, and racial identity and community. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has also made important contributions to this literature and its application to development studies. First, theoretical effort is required to unpack how ethnicity intersects with other forms of identity. Second, as demonstrated by IDS' contributions, further research is required on the impacts of ethnicity upon development and vice versa. the argument that philosophy is limited and cannot carry out a constructive task that goes beyond that of other disciplines of learning; and whether a metaphysics of race and ethnicity in particular is a descriptive or prescriptive enterprise. Finally, he considers an effective set of conditions for race, ethnicity, and nationality.

Sweden’s race to the bottom: advancing a racial security state

This article provides a close reading of the Swedish prime minister’s speech to the nation in September 2023 during a spiral of deadly shootings. From a criminological perspective it engages with the relation between policing a crisis and the crafting of a state project. Sweden’s punitive turn stands in sharp contrast to the previous ‘Nordic model’ which was regarded as exceptionally humane. What, asks the author, are the main ideological features of the current Swedish government’s security state project? Theoretically, the article draws from critical contributions on racism and security. The analysis shows that the discourse of the Swedish head of government targets racialised populations, within and without the borders of the nation. The policing of the current crisis should be conceptualised as a race to the bottom − in a dual sense. Firstly, it is a reconfiguration of Sweden’s race relations. Second, it is a drift along a militarisation continuum.

TEXT Reviews April 2024

Dominique Hecq reviews Julia Prendergast, Eileen Herbert-Goodall and Jen Webb’s (eds.) The Writing Mind: Creative Writing Responses to Images of the Living Brain; Verity Oswin reviews John Kinsellas’ Legibility: An Antifascist Poetics; Amelia Walker reviews Mathelinda Nabugodi’s Shelley with Benjamin: A critical mosaic; Aidan Coleman reviews Ada Calhoun’s Also a Poet; and Verity Oswin reviews Adelle Sefton-Rowston’s Polities and Poetics – Race Relations and Reconciliation in Australian Literature.

Esse cacilheiro sou eu: despertença em Tornado de Teresa Noronha

This article focuses on Teresa Noronha’s recent novel, Tornado (2021), which received the Maria Velho da Costa Award from the Portuguese Society of Authors. From Edward Said’s memoir Out of Place (1999), in which he explores the concept of exile as a way of inhabiting space with the constant awareness that one is not at home, I intend to examine how Noronha’s novel surrenders and, at the same time, expands this condition so dear to Said. At the same time, I intend to analyze the complex network of so-called racial relations in Mozambique, and how they contributed to the formation of a self marked by difference and, consequently, to its inner shattering. The feeling of estrangement leads the narrator to an inner exile and, later, an outer exile in search of herself.

‘We Come Here and Play Music Like Hell’: The Royal Papuan Constabulary Band’s 1945 Australian ‘Victory Loan’ Tour

The March 1945 Australian tour of the Royal Papuan Constabulary (RPC) Band offered Australians a vignette of Papuans’ progress since the Australian ‘civilising’ mandate began in 1906. After recounting the RPC Band’s origins and wartime propaganda role, this article examines the sponsors’ framing of the tour, the public’s responses to the visitors, and the outcomes of the trip for the musicians. The tour challenged Australians to rethink their sentimental appreciation of Papuans as ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’, while press reportage described both what was strange (language, recreation, diet, sleeping habits) and what was familiar (discipline, musical skill) about the visiting Papuans. Colonialist attitudes regarding race relations were also challenged during the tour. The RPC tour gave Papua New Guineans and Australians an unusual opportunity to see each other in a different light.

A French Materialist and Decolonial Perspective on Marxist-Feminist Theories and Struggles Today

This short commentary is part of a book symposium about Marxist-Feminist Theories and Struggles Today: Essential Writings on Intersectionality, Labour and Ecofeminism, edited by Khayaat Fakier, Diana Mulinari, and Nora Räthzel. It discusses certain chapters from a French materialist lesbian feminist perspective, as well as from a decolonial feminist perspective. Introducing Colette Guillaumin’s sexage proposal and referring to Monique Wittig’s analysis of the heterosexualization of women and of the “straight mind,” the essay recalls the importance of Black feminists in the United States and elsewhere and proposes a theory of the interlocking social-structural relations of sex, race, and class as complementary elements moving toward a renewal of Marxist-feminist reflections from a historical perspective that also accounts for the colonial roots of today’s discussions on care and reproductive labor.

Smokey Hollow: Circulations of Race and Value in Tallahassee, Florida

The historic neighborhood of Smokey Hollow was the center of a vibrant Black community in Tallahassee, Florida. While it was the site of the city dump and gasification plant, it had its own bustling circulations and flows. In this paper, we examine how the State of Florida and the City of Tallahassee mobilized conceptions of race, value, and circulation to categorize Smokey Hollow as blighted. We draw on archival documents and oral histories to illustrate how governing authorities linked white mobility with value and Blackness to stagnancy and waste. They used these discourses to forward urban renewal efforts that erased Black place and its circulations to make way for transportation infrastructure that better connected white suburban spaces to the Tallahassee Capitol Center, and later, greenspace. Examining five moments in the historic transformation of Smokey Hollow—from Black place to greenspace—shows how relations of race, value, and circulation inform the production of urban space. We argue that logics of circulation and stagnancy need to be brought into conversation with critical analysis of racial capitalism and valuation to better understand urban renewal and how the destruction of Black place is rationalized in the U.S. South.

Power, Painting, and Poetry: Mixed-Race Ekphrasis in Natasha Trethewey's Thrall

Abstract: This article contributes to scholarly conversations about ekphrasis by combining the field of mixed-race studies with ekphrastic concerns in a term I have coined "mixed-race ekphrasis." The ekphrastic strategy employed by Natasha Trethewey in her poetry might most aptly be termed mixed-race ekphrasis, and thus I will unpack this term through close readings of her book of poetry Thrall (2012). In particular, Trethewey's renderings of the historical art form of Mexican casta paintings connect issues of mixed-race identity across the visual and the textual and encourage links between nationalized and historical conceptions of race. Despite being produced hundreds of years ago, these paintings still reflect the social categorization and hegemonic power in current race relations and notions of white supremacy. I argue that Trethewey uses mixed-race ekphrasis in her casta painting poems to reclaim the agency of (self-)representation of mixed-race people by (re)negotiating race-related power relationships and critically addressing mixed-race classifications.