WHAT IS RACIAL DOMINATION?

TLDR

There is no single comprehensive source that offers basic analytical guidance on elementary forms of racial classification and domination for students of race and racism. The authors aim to fill this gap by providing a concise, comprehensive guide to race and racial domination. They synthesize recent theory to clarify race and its dynamics, define race in relation to ethnicity and nationhood, identify five fallacies, and analyze how actors sustain racial domination and the pros and cons of intersectional approaches in the U.S.

Abstract

Abstract When students of race and racism seek direction, they can find no single comprehensive source that provides them with basic analytical guidance or that offers insights into the elementary forms of racial classification and domination. We believe the field would benefit greatly from such a source, and we attempt to offer one here. Synchronizing and building upon recent theoretical innovations in the area of race, we lend some conceptual clarification to the nature and dynamics of race and racial domination so that students of the subjects—especially those seeking a general (if economical) introduction to the vast field of race studies—can gain basic insight into how race works as well as effective (and fallacious) ways to think about racial domination. Focusing primarily on the American context, we begin by defining race and unpacking our definition. We then describe how our conception of race must be informed by those of ethnicity and nationhood. Next, we identify five fallacies to avoid when thinking about racism. Finally, we discuss the resilience of racial domination, concentrating on how all actors in a society gripped by racism reproduce the conditions of racial domination, as well as on the benefits and drawbacks of approaches that emphasize intersectionality.