Wednesday 26 October 2011

Race- The Floating Signifier


Stuart Hall argues in the documentary “Race -The Floating Signifier” that race is a signifier which has meaning in a culture, but the meaning of skin colour is not fixed. The significance and social viewpoint of skin colour changes between different cultures. In addition, the meaning of skin colour slides and floats on the scale of interpretation held by members of a society. (Hall, Stuart. Race the floatingsignifier)

Below I will support the theory of Hall and show in the historical context that has emerged as "Race" and how this concept changes over time.
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Thursday 6 October 2011

Les Back, John Solomos: Theories of Race and Racism- A Reader


This book is maybe a good extension to the concepts of racism which we learned in class.

"Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader is an important and innovative collection that brings together extracts from the work of scholars, both established and up and coming, who have helped to shape the study of race and racism as an historical and contemporary phenomenon. This second edition incorporates new contributions and editorial material and allows readers to explore the changing terms of debates about the nature of race and racism in contemporary societies. All six parts are organized around the contributions made by theorists whose work has been influential in shaping theoretical debates. The various contributions have been chosen to reflect different theoretical perspectives and to help readers gain a feel for the changing terms of theoretical debate over time. As well as covering the main concerns of past and recent theoretical debates it provides a glimpse of relatively new areas of interest that are likely to attract more attention in years to come." In according of Amazon

Alana Lentin: Racism- A Beginner's Guide

This book could be very interesting for our class. It's about meaning of racism and the effects in our society. In addition she wrote in this book also about the Islam.

"Despite the long struggle to eliminate racism, it is still very much with us. In fact, since 9/11, racism appears to be on the rise, making it more important than ever before to understand the meaning of race and the effect it has on society. Alana Lentin maps the emergence and development of ideas about race through political history right up to modern debates about multiculturalism and Islamophobia, and considers the implications of a 'post-racial' society at a time when science has placed genetics over culture. Provocative and intelligent reading for the newcomer and expert alike, this invaluable resource exposes the roots of racial thought and demonstrates why it has remained crucial to our everyday lives. " In according of Amazon


Girls like me


 "Girls like me is" a documentary, who explores the self-image of black children with a doll test. The experiment shows how many black children are trapped by low self-esteem. This video reminds me on the video of B. Sobaz "Race is a Four-Letter Word", when he standing with his friend in the front of the class. They ask the children what they see- commons and differents. I remember that they saw more commons. It's interesting that in this movie the children see a big different and connect this with "good" or "bad".