Origins of the Modern Idea of Race

This case considers the impact of the modern idea of a race on European societies from its emergence in the late eighteenth century to the present day. It is divided into three parts:  •        What is race? Part one examines the writings of the main theorists of race and assesses the role of racial determinism in the transformation of the educational, political and other spheres of European social life, from the care of the body through physical education to racial discrimination, i.e., social exclusion on the basis of race;  •        What are the origins of racial hatred as it applies to the Jewish experience in Europe? Part two explores the origins of antisemitism and examines its culmination in Nazi ideology and the Holocaust.  •        How has the international community tried to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination after the Second World War and how effective has it been? Part three concludes the case study by examining racial prejudice in contemporary Europe in the post-World War Two context of international legislation for the elimination of racial discrimination. Preliminary reading list  BANTON, M.: Racial Theories, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990 (1987) BANTON, M.: Racial Consciousness, London: Longman, 1988 BIDDISS, M. D.: Father of Racist Ideology: The Social and Political Thought of Count Gobineau, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970 BULMER, B. and SOLOMONS, J.: Racism, Oxford Readers, Oxford: OUP, 1999. HUMAN RIGHTS FACT SHEET No.12: The Committee on the Elimination of racial discrimination, Geneva: United Nations, 1992 KERSHAW, I: The Nazi Dictatorship, 2nd and, 1989 MACMASTER, NEIL: Racism in Europe, Houndmills: Palgrave, 2001. MODOOD, T. et al.(eds.): Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach, London: Routledge, 2006 MOSSE, G.L.: Confronting the Nation: Jewish and Western Nationalism, Hanover NH, Brandeis University Press, 1993 MOSSE, G.L.’Racism and nationalism’, Nations and Nationalism, 1 / 2 July 1995 POLIAKOV, L: The Aryan Myth, Basic Books, 1974 REX,J.: Race and Ethnicity, Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1986, ch.2 SMITH, A.D.: Nationalism in the Twentieth Century, Martin Robertson, 1979, ch.3 (ch.4 is also relevant) VAN DEN BERGHE, P.: Race and Racism, John Wiley 1967.    Post-War European cases BANTON, MICHAEL (1994): ‘Modelling ethnic and national relations’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 17, no.1, Jan 1994 BANTON, MICHAEL. Promoting Racial Harmony, Cambridge, Cambridge University  Press,1985 (esp. Chs.1,2,3) BAUMAN, ZYGMUNT: ‘Europe of strangers’, Oxford University Transnational Communities Programme Working Paper.http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working%20papers/bauman.pdf BULMER, B. and SOLOMONS, J.: Racism, Oxford Readers, Oxford: OUP, 1999 (includes several relevant case studies). CAMPANI, GIOVANNA (1993): ‘Immigration and racism in southern Europe: the Italian case’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 16, no.3, July 1993 Ethnic and Racial Studies: most articles in vol. 29, no. 2, March 2006 (includes articles on France and on racial Europeanization). MASON, DAVID: Race and Ethnicity in Modern Britain, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995 BAINBRIDGE, MARK, BURKITT, BRIAN AND MACEY, MARIE: ‘The Maastricht Treaty: exacerbating racism in Europe’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 17, no.3, July 1994 RUMFORD, CHRIS, The SAGE Handbook of European Studies, Sage, 2009 (esp. section 1 and the chapters by Duvell, (multiculturalism) and Calhoun (cosmopolitan Europe) [on order]. SILBERMAN, R. et al.: ‘Segmented assimilation in France? Discrimination in the labour market against the second generation’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol.30, no.1, Jan. 2007 WEBBER, JONATHAN: ‘Jews and Judaism in contemporary Europe: religion or ethnic group?’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol.20, no.2, April 1997 WEISS, SHEILA FAITH: Race Hygiene and National Efficiency: The Eugenics of Wilhelm Schallmayer,  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.