Creating the Coloured Other in South Africa in Light of the “Jewish Question” in Germany

This article offers a response to Warren Goldstein’s analysis of the racialisation of the “Jewish Question.” By analysing the role of Scripture, Afrikaner nationalism and racial science in the production of apartheid, we argue that the insights shared by Goldstein as related to the “Jewish Question” sparks a fertile reflection on the “Coloured Question” in South Africa. While the outcomes differed, the correlations are to be found in the processes of othering that preceded and accompanied them. We explore the entangled nature of theology, biology, and politics in the racialisation, and subsequent othering, of the coloured category (where resonances with the Jewish example are to be found). By illustrating the similarities and differences between the “Jewish Question” and the “Coloured Question,” what is offered here is a piece to think with as the process of othering finds new targets in an increasingly polarised world.

Artists in Reality

This chapter traces H.G. Wells' shape-shifting account of the New Republic, as well as offering a novel interpretation of the philosophical foundations of his political thought, focusing in particular on his commitment to an idiosyncratic version of pragmatism. The author's “heretical metaphysical scepticism” — and in particular his nominalism — infused his writings on society and politics, underwriting his critique of both nationalism and racial science. Wells' antinationalism helped motivate a recurrent demand for the creation of vast “synthetic” political associations, including the New Republic, while his hostility to racial theorizing distinguished him from most other unionists. The chapter also discusses the strict distinction between the “English-speaking peoples” and “AngloSaxonism,” while explaining Wells' account of the New Republic in a shared language. Ultimately, it concludes with a discussion of Wells' conflicted attitude to imperial rule, exploring how he struggled to reconcile his early support for the continuation of the British Empire with his dream of Anglo-America.

Divine Variations: How Christian Thought Became Racial Science By T. Keel (2018)

Divine Variations: How Christian Thought Became Racial ScienceBy T. Keel (2018) Stanford: Stanford University Press, xii + 188pp.

Afterlife Writing and Situation of Graves II

This article discusses my practice as an artist and researcher examining the situation and significance of graves. First, in a site-specific installation at West Norwood Cemetery in South London, talking with visitors about whether it matters where human remains are deposited; secondly, in exhibitions at the Crypt Gallery St. Pancras and Lumen Crypt Gallery in Bethnal Green, presenting evidence of the historical circumstances in which human remains were appropriated from graves in the colonies, for the purposes of research into racial ‘science’ in museums during the late nineteenth century.