The first definition of race that comes to mind might be categorizing humans based on their geographical origins and physical body, such as the form of eyes and skin color. Most of the time, race's social qualities and political aspects are ignored. Omi and Winant in Racial Formation define race as a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies (P: 55). They argue that the selection of human biological features for purposes of racial signification is a social and historical process. Based on my own experience, living in two very different countries, I believe what the concept of race recalls to one’s mind depends on the society in which one lives. For instance, in most cities of Iran, when ordinary people_who do not follow international news_ and hear about race and racism, they do not think about black and white because they barely face this categorizing. It doesn't mean that there is no racism there. In Iran, racists attribute negative features to Afghan and Arab people. Like other nations, Iranian use the concept of nationalism to justify their racism; in fact, they try to hide their racism under cover of nationalism.
However, moving to the United States and learning more about what is happening here, I see the same pattern in all racial formations: race is a concept for categorizing people into insiders and outsiders. In other words, "We" and "others." Although race is a dynamic concept, it has always been a political way to dominate people. Dr. West, in his lecture, says:
Very important starting point to understand how you talk about the constructions of race and how they change over time. The rigid original elaborations and articulations of this dynamic concept of race are always already connected to Empire. Always already connected to predatory capitalist expansion, always already connected to form the patriarchal practices, on and on.
He points out to black exclusion Act of 1844 that black folk couldn't set foot in Oregon and argues that:
We're anti-slavery yet, but you're anti-black people at the same time. That is highly possible. We're human beings. We're so creative when it comes to mistreating each other. Be against slavery and don't want black folk to be close to you.
The contradiction Dr. West talks about is ideally discussed by Harry J. Elam Jr in Reality. The author starts the argument with the example of Emmet Till, who was killed for the audacity of looking at a white woman. Her mother left his casket open, exposing his thoroughly his disfigured face to a national audience of mourners, which was in contrast to the picture of a smiling, handsome, light-eyed, young black boy of fourteen (p:173). Elam Jr brings this example of a reality check to depict the differences between the real and the representational. Reality checks can be applied to Obama presidential that we studied in previous sessions. The representation is that a black man has become the president of the United States, which some interpreted as an outset of a post-racial US, while the reality is that Gorge Floyd was killed because he was black. As Dr. West points out, the reality is that the United States killed almost a million Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, while the representation of it is getting to counter terrorists.
As the concept of race and racism involve violence, inequality, indignity, and oppression, so the question is: Can we not "do without" race? Omi and Winant in Racial Formation argue that it is difficult to jettison widely held beliefs, beliefs that are central to everyone's identity and understanding of the social world. (p:56). They argue that the concept of race plays a significant role in structuring and representing the social world, so the task is avoiding both ideological frameworks, which see race as an illusion we can somehow get beyond, and essentialist framework, which sees race as something fixed and objective. Dr. West argues that:
To come to terms with race matters is to begin with self always already tied to society always already tied to forms of death, forms of dogma and forms of domination. To be human is to wrestle with those inescapable and unavoidable realities to drop any linguistically conscious primate like ourselves in time and space…. […] 400 years of being hated, individually, systemically, chronically, institutionally and yet, the best of the black tradition is what teaching the world so much about love. […] I am who I am because somebody loved me.
Resources:
Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the New Millennium. Routledge, 2008.
Reinelt, Janelle G., et al. “Reality.” Critical Theory and Performance, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 2007, pp. 173–190.
"Race Matters." Performance by Cornell West, YouTube, YouTube, 27 Apr. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUdPI21I7As. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.
Marzi, thank you for your response. I found it important but sad and true that you mentioned here we define each other as "we" and "others," because this is true. And not only that here we also have other dampers that are used against people to separate them from the rest and highlight that they are not the exact same as the masses.
Hi Marzi, I really appreciated how you were able to apply the readings to understandings of race beyond the U.S. I think you do a good job underlining that race is a tool for the management and subordination of "the other", which Omi and Winant explain in their book. They wrote that racism truly began in the colonizing of the New World, as concepts of race before that were tied to religion. Race, along with gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability/disability become formative processes that centers of power use to gain and maintain economic and political power.
Marzi, your writing makes a mark of the true reality of racism and that is that it really is something universal and it is not only a problem in the United States. And it is as I had mentioned, everything will depend on whether you let yourself be affected by your upbringing and influences and that gives you some beliefs and/or thoughts to judge or harm. And as you cited Dr. Cornels words, everything is connected to the Empire, so the root of all the bad things that have happened socio-economically is power and how human beings live by having more power. Although it is and will be difficult to remove the concept of race and racism in the society…
Marzi, I thought your insight as someone who's lived in two countries halfway across the world was interesting. You're able to look at two very different societies and step back from the microanalysis of a country and see the overarching themes that apply to humanity as a whole.