Notes on policing, racism and the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK

This commentary excerpts from the research report ‘A threat to public safety: policing, racism and the Covid-19 pandemic’, carried out by the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) and published by the Institute of Race Relations in September 2021. One of the only pieces of research based on the experiences of the policed and their testimonies, the report suggests that policing during the Covid-19 pandemic undermines public health measures whilst disproportionately targeting Black and Minority Ethnic communities in the UK. The authors raise concerns about the policing of the pandemic and show that racially minoritised communities have been most harshly affected – being more likely to be stopped by the police, threatened or subject to police violence and falsely accused of rule-breaking and wrong-doing. The report argues that lockdown conditions, new police powers, and histories of institutionally racist policing have combined to pose a threat to already over-policed communities and the most marginalised and vulnerable sections of society.

Out of the cauldron: lessons from Cedric Robinson

This is an abbreviated account of the UK webinar launch in October 2021 of the biography, Cedric Robinson: the time of the Black Radical Tradition, written by Joshua Myers. Moderated by James Pope, panellists, including Myers, Colin Prescod, John Narayan, Avery Gordon and Elizabeth Robinson present their takes on Robinson in relation to the UK and especially his relationship with the Institute of Race Relations and the journal Race & Class. They discuss key aspects of Robinson’s work, including the meaning of racial capitalism, his understanding of time, and how for him historical materialism was grounded, not in the mode of production but in the primacy of social struggle and in a dialectic of power and resistance to its abuses.

Invisibilidade do racismo e as lutas antirracistas a partir dos estudos da UNESCO de 1950

O presente artigo apresenta as lutas antirracistas e resistências do povo negro brasileiro tomando como ponto de partida as indicações do Brasil como exemplo positivo de convivência harmoniosa entre as raças, conferidas pela Organização das Nações Unidas para Educação, Ciência e Cultura (UNESCO), nos anos de 1950. Utilizando, especialmente, a pesquisa bibliográfica das obras de Thales de Azevedo, Florestan Fernandes e Oracy Nogueira, que participaram diretamente dos estudos da UNESCO, constata-se um quadro permanente de invisibilidade do racismo presente nas estruturas do Estado brasileiro e aspectos históricos sobre as questões raciais ainda por resolver. Destaca-se, ainda, que, para estudar as questões raciais no Brasil, é imprescindível abordar também as lutas contra o racismo. Palavras-chave: Racismo, Democracia racial, Resistências ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to present studies on race relations in Brazilian society that analyzed the indications of UNESCO in Brazil as a positive example of harmonious coexistence between races. However, there is a permanent invisibility of racism present in the structures of the Brazilian State and historical aspects of racial issues still to be resolved. The methodology used was the documentary research of three authors who participated directly in the studies. It is also noteworthy that studying racial issues in Brazil is essential to address also the struggles against racism. Keywords: Racism, Racial democracy, Resistance

Resistance, Rage, Paralysis, and Paralysis by Proxy: Reflecting on Reactions to Contentious Content in the Classroom

Sociology curricula often house a variety of “hot button” or contentious topics (e.g., race relations, crime and deviance, personal freedoms/choice, gender). While departments may be giving more attention to ensuring that these topics are included in their curriculum, here I argue that we also need to engage students in reflection about their gut reaction to these divisive topics. How students take in the material will affect their ability to successfully meet the learning outcomes throughout their program. This research was guided by past work categorizing student reactions into three categories: resistance, paralysis, and rage. Preliminary results are presented, and a fourth reaction, paralysis by proxy, is also proposed. Last is a discussion of how we as educators can integrate research on student reactions into course design/implementation, thus setting students up for success.

‘Nothing Is Less Universal than the Idea of Race’

In 1950, the cultural anthropologist Alfred Métraux, a student of Marcel Mauss, was appointed to head a new Race Bureau at UNESCO in Paris whose mission was to combat racism with the tools of social science. Métraux had worked in the Americas since the 1930s, and his appointment allowed French social scientists to join the global struggle to remove prejudice ‘from the minds of men’. To what extent did French scholars help shape Métraux’s efforts, given that at the time American sociologists and social psychologists dominated the study of race relations? Booklets commissioned by UNESCO and authored by French and American scientists in the early 1950s suggest that linguistic and conceptual barriers made cross-national discussions of race difficult, but not impossible. Thanks in part to Métraux’s campaign, the social scientific study of race relations in post-war France began earlier than is typically remembered.

Corners, Tables, Lines

The modern concept of race is usually traced back to proponents of a “natural history of mankind” in the European Enlightenment. Starting from allegorical representations of the four continents in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the eighteenth-century visual genre of castas paintings, I suggest that modern conceptions of race were significantly shaped by diagrammatic representations of human diversity that allowed for tabulation of data, combinatorial analysis, and quantification, and hence functioned as “tools to think with.” Accounting for racial ancestry in terms of “proportions of blood” not only became a preoccupation of scholars as a consequence, but also came to underwrite administrative practices and popular discourses. To contribute to a better understanding of the history of race relations, historians of the race concept need to pay more attention to these diagrammatic aspects of the concept.

Annotated bibliography of selected themes on New Zealand rugby literature 1967-2003

<p>New Zealand has always prided itself as being the premier rugby nation. Rugby has been a major influence that has shaped the way we see ourselves. It is more than simply our national sport. Rugby has been a mirror reflecting the state of our society, our national character. Currently New Zealand rugby is experiencing a relative lean time and in any time of hardship it is common to look back and reflect on the good times while also analysing the not so good times. During the period 1998-2002 the success of the national rugby team had waned, no Bledisloe Cup which had previously been considered a given, no World Cup since 1987 and narrow last minute losses and it has been suggested by writers, supporters, talk back callers and former players that players may have attained a state of softness, greed and lack of initiative, removing them from the environment which supposedly made them strong and which they are meant to represent. The unexpected defeat by France at the semi final stage of the 1999 World Cup and the loss of sub-host status for the 2003 World Cup dealt hammer blows to its confidence in the New Zealand game and those running it. Those in charge were found guilty and vilified. In the first stage of this national enquiry the team was accused of cowardice and capitulation to the enemy. Rugby journalists and former greats described the All Blacks as spineless, clueless, leaderless, gutless, panic stricken, lacking in skills and perhaps worst of all soft up front. Embittered kiwi fans wanted a cruel and protracted revenge for what they seemed to regard as a personal betrayal. Either through gross incompetence or dereliction of duty (All Black coach) Hart had let them down (Thomas 2003, 79). These suggestions began a series of debates that continue to this day. However upon closer examination it appears that some of these concerns have been articulated before, particularly in times of disappointments and defeat. Even in times of great success there have still been voices that cry out for change or re-evaluation. Overreaction to a rugby defeat has been a common reaction within New Zealand society as we reflect inwards and feel the need to apportion blame. The increased commercialisation that led to the success of the World Cup in 1987, the return from isolation of South Africa in 1992, the dramatic entry of professionalism in 1995 and the harsh reality of player drain are just a few issues that have enlivened or (depending on your standpoint) threatened the standing of our national sport. Some rugby literature seeks to help illuminate and understand how rugby came to be an important nation builder with reference to Imperialism and making our way in the Commonwealth. The 1905 Originals intensified the belief of colonial physical and mental superiority. Other themes that have shaped our history have been race relations, rugby violence and its rationalization of its place in rugby, the pre-eminence of the rugby hard man and how these perceptions have changed through the era of amateurism to the age of professionalism. Many of these themes are intertwined and have influenced the style in which we have played, which in turn have influenced how we perceive ourselves through rugby, and how the rest of the world sees us through rugby.</p>

Annotated bibliography of selected themes on New Zealand rugby literature 1967-2003

<p>New Zealand has always prided itself as being the premier rugby nation. Rugby has been a major influence that has shaped the way we see ourselves. It is more than simply our national sport. Rugby has been a mirror reflecting the state of our society, our national character. Currently New Zealand rugby is experiencing a relative lean time and in any time of hardship it is common to look back and reflect on the good times while also analysing the not so good times. During the period 1998-2002 the success of the national rugby team had waned, no Bledisloe Cup which had previously been considered a given, no World Cup since 1987 and narrow last minute losses and it has been suggested by writers, supporters, talk back callers and former players that players may have attained a state of softness, greed and lack of initiative, removing them from the environment which supposedly made them strong and which they are meant to represent. The unexpected defeat by France at the semi final stage of the 1999 World Cup and the loss of sub-host status for the 2003 World Cup dealt hammer blows to its confidence in the New Zealand game and those running it. Those in charge were found guilty and vilified. In the first stage of this national enquiry the team was accused of cowardice and capitulation to the enemy. Rugby journalists and former greats described the All Blacks as spineless, clueless, leaderless, gutless, panic stricken, lacking in skills and perhaps worst of all soft up front. Embittered kiwi fans wanted a cruel and protracted revenge for what they seemed to regard as a personal betrayal. Either through gross incompetence or dereliction of duty (All Black coach) Hart had let them down (Thomas 2003, 79). These suggestions began a series of debates that continue to this day. However upon closer examination it appears that some of these concerns have been articulated before, particularly in times of disappointments and defeat. Even in times of great success there have still been voices that cry out for change or re-evaluation. Overreaction to a rugby defeat has been a common reaction within New Zealand society as we reflect inwards and feel the need to apportion blame. The increased commercialisation that led to the success of the World Cup in 1987, the return from isolation of South Africa in 1992, the dramatic entry of professionalism in 1995 and the harsh reality of player drain are just a few issues that have enlivened or (depending on your standpoint) threatened the standing of our national sport. Some rugby literature seeks to help illuminate and understand how rugby came to be an important nation builder with reference to Imperialism and making our way in the Commonwealth. The 1905 Originals intensified the belief of colonial physical and mental superiority. Other themes that have shaped our history have been race relations, rugby violence and its rationalization of its place in rugby, the pre-eminence of the rugby hard man and how these perceptions have changed through the era of amateurism to the age of professionalism. Many of these themes are intertwined and have influenced the style in which we have played, which in turn have influenced how we perceive ourselves through rugby, and how the rest of the world sees us through rugby.</p>

It’s Only You and Me and We Just Disagree: The Ideological Foundations of Affective Polarization

Using the extensive battery of issue questions included in the 2020 ANES survey, I find that a single underlying liberal-conservative dimension largely explains the policy preferences of ordinary Americans across a wide range of issues including the size and scope of the welfare state, abortion, gay and transgender rights, race relations, immigration, gun control and climate change. I find that the distribution of preferences on this liberal-conservative issue scale is highly polarized with Democratic identifiers and leaners located overwhelmingly on the left, Republican identifiers and leaners located overwhelmingly on the right and little overlap between the two distributions. Finally, I show that ideological preferences strongly predict feelings toward the parties and presidential candidates. These findings indicate that polarization in the American public has a rational foundation. Hostility toward the opposing party reflects strong disagreement with the policies of the opposing party. As long as the parties remain on the opposite sides of almost all major issues, feelings of mistrust and animosity are unlikely to diminish regardless of Donald Trump’s future role in the Republican Party.