Racial Conditions: Politics, Theory, Comparisons

215 Pages·1994·12.915 MB·English

by  Howard Winant

Racial Conditions
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Racial Conditions
Politics, Theory, Comparisons
Howard Winant
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Copyright 1994 by Howard Winant
Chapter 2, "The Theoretical Status of the Concept of Race," reprinted in revised form from
Race, Identity, and Representation in Education, Warren Crichlow and Cameron McCarthy,
eds. (New York.- Routledge, 1993); used with permission of the publisher. Chapter 6, "The
Los Angeles 'Race Riot' and Contemporary U.S. Politics," reprinted in revised form from
Reading Rodney King, Reading Urban Uprising, Robert Gooding-Williams, ed. (New York:
Routledge, 1993); used with permission of the publisher. Chapter 7, "Hard Lessons: Recent
Writing on Racial Politics," was previously published in Socialist Review 93, no. 2 (1993);
reprinted with permission of Socialist Review. Chapter 8, "Racial Formation and
Hegemony: Global and Local Developments," was previously published in Racism,
Identity, Ethnicity, Ali Rattansi and Sallie Westwood, eds. (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1994);
reprinted with permission of the publisher. Chapter 9, "Rethinking Race in Brazil,"
previously appeared in Journal of Latin American Studies 24, no. 1 (February 1992);
reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290, Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Third printing 2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Winant, Howard.
Racial conditions : politics, theory, comparsions / Howard Winant.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8166-2386-4 (hard cover : acid-free)
ISBN 0-8166-2387-2 (pbk. : acid-free)
1. Race relations. 2. United States—Race relations.
3. Brazil—Race relations. I. Title
HT1521.W59 1994
305.8'00973-dc20 93-30445
CIP
The University of Minnesota is an
equal-opportunity educator and employer.
In appreciation of the work and struggle of Salman Rushdie,
tireless defender of the rights of minorities
and the cause of free expression.
May he regain complete liberty.
With gratitude to Deborah Haagens Winant,
who continues to sustain those she loves.
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Nao temos armas que vengam a opressao e jamais teremos, embora de-
vamos lutar sempre que a nossa sobrevivencia e a nossa honra tenha de
ser defendida. Mas a nossa arma ha de ser a cabega, a cabega de cada um
e de todos, que nao pode ser dominada e tern de afirmar-se. Nosso obje-
tivo nao e bem a igualdade, e mais a justica, a liberdade, o orgulho, a
dignidade, a boa convivencia. Isto e uma luta que trespassara os seculos,
porque os enemigos sao muito fortes. A chibata continua, a pobreza au-
menta, nada mudou. A Aboli^ao nao aboliu a escravidao, criou novos
escravos. A Republica nao aboliu a opressao, criou novos opressores. O
povo nao sabe de si, nao tern consciencia e tudo o que faz nao e visto e
somente Ihe ensinam desprezo por si mesmo, por sua fala, por sua
aparencia, pelo que come, pelo que veste, pelo que e. Mas nos estamos
fazendo essa revolucao de pequenas e grandes batalhas, umas sangren-
tas, outras surdas, outras secretas, e e isto que eu faco....
[We don't have enough weapons to overcome oppression and never will,
although it's our duty to fight whenever our survival and our honor have
to be defended. But our weapon must be the mind, each and everyone's
mind, which must not be dominated and has to assert itself. Our objec-
tive is not really equality, rather it's justice, freedom, pride, dignity, good
coexistence. This is a fight that will go across centuries, because our ene-
mies are very strong. The bullwhip still prevails, poverty increases, noth-
ing has changed. Emancipation didn't abolish slavery, it created new
slaves. The Republic didn't abolish oppression, it created new oppres-
sors. The people doesn't know about itself, has no conscience, nothing it
does is seen, and all it is taught is contempt for itself, for its speech, for
its appearance, for its food, for its clothing, for what it is. But we are
making this revolution of small and great battles, some bloody, some
muffled, some secret, and this is what I do....]
—Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro, An Invincible Memory
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Contents
Preface xi
1. Introduction 1
Parti. Racial Theory
2. The Theoretical Status of the Concept of Race 13
3. Where Culture Meets Structure: Race in the 1990s 22
4. Dictatorship, Democracy, and Difference: The Historical
Construction of Racial Identity 37
Part II. Racial Politics
5. Contesting the Meaning of Race in
the Post-Civil Rights Period 57
6. The Los Angeles "Race Riot" and Contemporary U.S. Politics 69
7. Hard Lessons: Recent Writing on Racial Politics 85
Part III. The Comparative Sociology of Race
8. Racial Formation and Hegemony:
Global and Local Developments 111
9. Rethinking Race in Brazil 130
10. "The Fact of Blackness" in Brazil 148
11. Democracy Reenvisioned, Difference Transformed: Comparing
Contemporary Racial Politics in the United States and Brazil 157
Notes 171
Bibliography 181
Index 195
ix