Education Studies, Education Studies (Early Childhood)

& Education Studies (Modern Liberal Arts)

ES2208: THINKING ABOUT ‘RACE' ’  

Tutor: Simon Boxley

Semester 2, 2011/12, Thursday 12:00-2:00, MCT2

 

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Last updated 01.02.12.

 

 

Aims

 

This module examines the origins of racial ideologies in the West, considering a variety of historical and theoretical perspectives.  ‘Scientific’ theories of ‘race’

are examined, and theoretical challenges to popular assumptions about racial identity are considered. This module includes an exploration of debates about

issues of power, identity and ‘otherness’ which is founded in analysis of how understandings of ‘race’ and racism are ‘learned’ by new generations through

particular ‘cultures’, media, education and the family

 

 

 

Seminar Schedule

week 1

The Enlightenment and ‘race’: Kant

 

Essential Reading

 

Kant, I. [1777] (2000) ‘Of the Different Human Races’ in Bernasconi, R. & Lott, T. (Eds.) The Idea of Race, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company

 

Additional Reading

 

 Bernasconi, R. (2001) ‘Who Invented the Concept of Race? Kant’s Role in the Enlightenment Construction of Race’ in Bernasconi, R. (Ed.) Race, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

Bernasconi, R. (2002) ‘Kant as an Unfamiliar Source of Racism’ in Ward, J. & Lott, T. (Eds.) Philosophers on Race: Critical Essays, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

Eigen, S. & Larrimore, M. (Eds.) (2007) The German Invention of Race, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press                       

Eze, E.  (Ed.) (1997) Race and the Enlightenment: A Reader, Oxford: Blackwell

Eze, E. (2002) ‘The color of reason: The idea of ‘race’ in Kant’s anthropology’ in Coetzee, P. & Roux, A. (Eds.) The African Philosophy Reader, London: Routledge

Kant, I. [1764] (1960) Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime, Berkeley: University of California Press

Kant, I. [1788](2001) ‘On the Use of Teleological Principles in Philosophy’, in Bernasconi, R. (Ed.) Race, Oxford: Blackwell

Larrimore, M. (2008) Antinomies of race: diversity and destiny in Kant’, Patterns of Prejudice, 42 (4/5) 341-363

 

 

2

‘Race’ and labour: Marx

 

Essential Reading

 

Marx, K. [1843] (1978) ‘On The Jewish Question’, in Tucker, R. (Ed.) The Marx-Engels Reader, New York: W.W. Norton. You should read pages 26-36.

Please note, in the lecture I will take my quotations from a different version of this text, also available in the library – see lecture notes

Marx, K. [1870] (2001) ‘Marx to Sigfrid Meyer and August Vogt, April 9, 1870’, in Ahmad, A. (Ed.) Karl Marx & Frederick Engels On the National & Colonial Questions: Selected Writings, New Delhi: Left Word.

This is a useful collection, available in the library: you might want to look at other writings on the Colonial and Irish questions, selected here.

 

Additional Reading

 

Anderson, K. (2010) Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies, Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1960) On Colonialism, Moscow: Progress Publishers

Marx, K. (2007) Dispatches for the New York Tribune: Selected Journalism of Karl Marx, London: Penguin

 

3

Science & Eugenics: Malthus & Galton

 

Essential Reading

 

Galton, F. [1904] (2000) ‘Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims’ Races’ in Bernasconu, R. & Lott, T. (Eds.) The Idea of Race, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company

Malthus, T. [1803](1993) An Essay on the Principle of Population, Oxford: Oxford University Press

 

Additional Reading

 

Chase, A. (1980) The Legacy of Malthus: The Social Cost of the New Scientific Racism, Urbana: University of Illinois Press

 

 

 

4

Racism and modernity: Bauman

 

Essential Reading

 

Bauman, Z. (1989) Modernity and the Holocaust, Oxford: Blackwell. You should read Chapter 3

 

Combine with old notes from Ed. Social & Political Thought

 

Additional Reading

 

 

5

Colonialism & racism: Fanon

 

Essential Reading

 

Fanon, F. [1952] (2008) Black Skin, White Masks, London: Pluto Press

 

Additional Reading

 

Césaire, A. (2000) Discourse on Colonialism, New York : Monthly Review Press

Rabaka, R (2009) Africana critical theory: reconstructing the black radical tradition, from W.E.B. Du Bois and C.L.R. James to Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral, Lanham, MD : Lexington Books

Sartre, J.P. (1976) Black Orpheus, Paris: Présence Africaine

6

Against ‘race’: Gilroy

 

Essential Reading

 

Gilroy, P. (2001) Against race : imagining political culture beyond the color line, Cambridge, MA : Belknap

 

Additional Reading

 

Gilroy, P. (2002) There ain't no black in the Union Jack: the cultural politics of race and nation, London: Routledge

 

 

7

British Racism Today

 

Essential Reading

 

Copsey, N. (2008) Contemporary British fascism: the British National Party and the quest for legitimacy, Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan

 

Additional Reading

 

Copsey, N. & Macklin, G. (Eds.) (2010) British National Party: Contemporary Perspectives,  London: Routledge

Godwin, M. (2011) New British fascism: the rise of the British National Party, London : Routledge

 

8

Critical Race Theory &Education

 

Essential Reading

 

Delgado, R. & Stefanic, J. (2001) Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, New York: New York University Press. Chapter 1.

 

Ladson-Billings, G. & Tate, William, F. (2006) ‘Towards a Critical Race Theory of Education’ in Dixson, A & Rousseau, C. (Eds.) Critical Race Theory in Education: All God’s Children Got a Song, New York: Routledge

 

Additional Reading

 

9

Debates in ‘race’ & education today, 1

 

Essential Reading

 

Gillborn, D. (2008) Racism and Education: Coincidence or conspiracy? London: Routledge

 

 

Additional Reading

 

 Gillborn, D. (2002) Education and institutional racism, London : University of London, Institute of Education

 

 

10

Debates in ‘race’ & education today, 2

 

Essential Reading

 

Cole, M. (2009) Critical Race Theory and Education: A Marxist Response,

Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan

 

 

Additional Reading

 

Cole, M. (2011) Racism and education in the U.K. and the U.S.: towards a socialist alternative, Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan

 

11

Debates in ‘race’ & education today, 3

 

The ongoing debate: To be read in this order:

 

Cole, M. (2009a) ‘The Color-Line and the Class Struggle: a Marxist response to critical race theory in education as it arrives in the United Kingdom,’ Power and Education, 1 (1)

 

Gillborn, D. (2009) ‘Who’s Afraid of Critical Race Theory in Education? A Reply to Mike Cole’s ‘The Color-Line and the Class Struggle,’ Power and Education, 1 (1)

 

Additional Reading

 

Cole, M. (2009b) ‘On 'white supremacy' and caricaturing, misrepresenting and dismissing Marx and Marxism: a response to David Gillborn's 'Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory in Education',’ Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 7 (1) http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=143

 

Cole, M. (2009c) ‘Critical Race Theory comes to the UK: A Marxist response’, Ethnicities, 9 (2) pp. 246-269

Mills, C. (2009) ‘Critical Race Theory: A Reply to Mike Cole’, Ethnicities, 9 (2) pp.270-281

 Cole, M. (2009d) ‘A Response to Charles Mills’, Ethnicities, 9 (2) pp. 281-284

Hill, D. (2009a) ‘Culturalist and Materialist Explanations of Class and “Race”: Critical Race Theory, Equivalence/Parallelist Theory, and Marxist Theory’ Cultural Logic, 16.  http://clogic.eserver.org/2009/Hill.pdf   

Hill, D. (2009b) ‘Race and Class in Britain: a critique of the statistical basis for Critical Race Theory in Britain: and some political implications’, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 7(2): 1-40. http://www.jceps.com/?pageID=article&articleID=159     

Hill, D. (2009c) ‘Statistical Skullduggery in the Case for Critical Race Theory: how statistical tables comparing ‘race’ and class underachievement have been fiddled to prove CRT’s point in England’. Paper presented at the conference Critical Race Theory in the UK: what is to be learnt? What is to be done? Institute of Education, University of London, 25-26 June.

Gillborn, D. (2010) ‘Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? a reply to Dave Hill’s ‘Race and Class in Britain: a critique of the statistical basis for critical race theory in Britain’,’ Journal for Critical Education Studies, 9 (1): pp.79-107 http://www.jceps.com/?pageID=article&articleID=177

Gollborn, D. (2011) ‘Find Words and Foul Deeds: why coalition education policy will make things worse for Black Students and the White working class’, Race Equality Teaching, 29 (2), pp.9-14

 

12

Student presentations

 

 

 

 

Assignments

 

Assignment 1:

 

What contribution did x and y (choose two from Kant, Marx, Galton/Malthus, Bauman, Fanon, Gilroy, the British National Party) make to the

development of the idea of ‘race’ and/or to racism?

 

Note, if you choose Galton and Malthus, you should consider them together, and pick another theorist as well.

 

Essay, 60%, 2250-2500 words, to be submitted Thursday, week 8, March 8th

 

 

 

Assignment 2:

 

For this assignment, you can choose to do either a presentation or an essay:

 

How do David Gillborn and/or Mike Cole regard the significance of ‘race’ in education in Britain today? Explain by reference to recent publications.

 

Essay, 40%, 2000 words, to be submitted, Tuesday of week 13, May 10th

 

Or

 

Individual presentation of ten minutes, 40 % on Thursday of week 12, April 5th