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IS “RACE” MODERN?

Disambiguating the Question

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2020

Adam Hochman
Adam Hochman*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University
*
*Corresponding author: Dr. Adam Hochman, Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, 2nd floor, Australian Hearing Hub, NSW, Australia, 2109. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Race theorists have been unable to reach a consensus regarding the basic historical question, “is ‘race’ modern?” I argue that this is partly because the question itself is ambiguous. There is not really one question that race scholars are answering, but at least six. First, is the concept of race modern? Second, is there a modern concept of race that is distinct from earlier race concepts? Third, are “races” themselves modern? Fourth, are racialized groups modern? Fifth, are the means and methods associated with racialization modern? And sixth, are the meanings attached to racialized traits modern? Because these questions have different answers, the debate about the historical origins of “race” cannot be resolved unless they are distinguished. I will explain the ways in which “race” is and is not modern by answering these questions, thereby offering a resolution to a seemingly intractable problem.

Keywords

History of RacePeriodizationRacial FormationRacializationRacialized GroupsRacism
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , Fall 2019 , pp. 647 - 665
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2020 

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