Duck, Waverly

In our book Tacit Racism we show that racism is coded into the “everyday” expectations of face- to-face social interaction in the United States, in what we call Interaction Orders of Race, in “tacit” taken-for- granted ways that create vast amounts of unconscious racism. Social conceptions of Race, which have since the late 1600’s been the primary social category organizing social, labor and citizen status in the United States, have become deeply embedded in both formal law and informal practice. We show how, every time we interact with another human being, we draw unconsciously on sets of expectations to guide us through the encounter. When those expectations have been shaped by centuries of systemic racism we are constantly led to act in accord with racialized biases that can shape everything from how we greet our neighbors to whether we take a second look at a résumé. This is tacit racism, and we argue that it is one of the most pernicious and widespread threats to the possibility of democracy. Given that the historical development in the US of a Black/White binary categorization schema to organize social and labor relations along racial lines, is somewhat unique, the question for the Special Issue of the journal Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaft 2/2021 is whether the tacit aspects of racism we find in the US play a similar role in other countries such that our approach can inform research on Race in those countries. We argue that although the circumstances leading to the formation of a racialized binary in the US are quite different from what happened in Europe, the US conception and practice of Race has been exported around the world resulting in a deep embedding of tacit racism in other countries. The solution we advocate – using detailed studies of face-to-face social interaction (with a focus on eth- nomethodology and conversation analysis in particular) to produce an awareness of tacit racism for majority persons – that we call “White double-consciousness” to complement the double-consciousness that Black Americans develop through their experience of trouble and exclusion – seems not only applicable elsewhere, but especially timely, as war, famine, and climate change drive Black and Brown persons to migrate. Without increased awareness, racism will continue to divide and weaken the US and the EU, while majority persons continue to downplay its relevance, providing fertile ground for the manipulation of any issues that can be cynically associated with Race (e.g., national security, cultural integrity, healthcare, guns, voting rights, im- migration, etc.) by foreign powers and wealthy special interests, such that Race divisions now pose a clear and present danger to democracy and freedom around the world.

Duck, Waverly

Filters

Settings

Sort By

Results per page