Race and Racism as Systems of Power

By the end of Chapter 2, you will be able to:

Analyse the workings of race and racism as systems of power

Interrogate the relationship between capitalism, imperialism, racism and nationalism

Consider the relationship between power, representation and the media

Examine the relationship between race, language and literature

Apply your understanding to case studies

In Chapter 2, we continue our interrogation of race and racism as systems of power. Like the previous chapter, we look to the past to make sense of the present starting with leading public intellectual in black existentialism and postcolonial phenomenology Lewis Ricardo Gordon (1962–). We examine Gordon’s notion of racism as bad faith but also Black consciousness and Black power. We move on to discuss black British scholar Paul Gilroy’s (1956–) theory-work on the relationship between imperialism, nationalism and racism. The Black Atlantic is of particular importance. The Black Atlantic refers to the impact of Black forms and endeavours on the modern Western world. Exclusionary forms of nationalism in post-World War II (1939–1945) Britain are discussed as is the impact of the imperial and colonial past on contemporary life in the Global North. With the help of Jamaican-born British scholar Stuart Hall (1932–2014), we examine the relationship between power, representation and the media, and think about how race works as a floating signifier within this context. The emergence of common-sense racism in post-war Britain is central to our discussion.