Peggy McIntosh- Racism and the priviledges associated with skin colour

In this movie you can see some white priviledges.

Whiteness refers to our understanding of race. Whiteness is a socio-political idea rather than a word used to describe skin tone. ‘Whiteness-’a word used as a concept from the critical theories developed on racism. This article is directed less at those who experience racism, rather than on social structures and to those who have many social advantages when based on a majority/minority viewpoint. (ASA- Programm 2011, n.p.)

Critical Whiteness Studies emerged mid-80s in the U.S. and support
anti-racist and postcolonial theories. In essence they reflect on white privilege and challenge the oppresive idea of race. In order to reverse the motions that racist ideas put forward, and to reconstruct a more postive ‘white identity,’ we ‘white people’ need to analze the power imbalances found in a white hierarchal society. (Lück 2011, n.p.)

Images of Indians and Cowboys

Michael Yellow Bird argued in “Cowboys and Indians: Toys of Genocide, Icons of American Colonialism” that “The colonizer’s falsified stories have become universal truths to mainstream society, and have reduced Aboriginal culture to a caricature.” (Yellow Bird 2004, p. 39.).

I began to deal with this argument by searching on the internet for the term “Cowboys and Indians”. In my searches I found a lot of media and sources (stories, lyrics, movies, comics, etc.), which showed not the real history of Indians and Cowboys, but only a distorted reality.  

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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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".

Racism and Sexism

Robert Miles wrote in his essay about racism, that the ideology of racism, nationalism and sexisms characteristic overlap (Miles 1989, p. 87). He called this ideological articulation. To the extent this reflection brief, I will confine myself to an analyses of the connections between the ideologies of racism and sexism.