Social Psychology, Resistance and Anti-racism

Parisa Dashtipour & Shose Kessi

Social Psychology, Resistance and Anti-racism

Resistance to Racism in International Development (Shose)Anti-Racism in Sweden (Parisa)

Racism and Psychology Underlying concepts of

western thought: individualism, rationality, objectivity

For psychology – mind as naturalised and object of science

Scientific racism producing neutral, value-free, objective or scientific discourse

Norm= unitary subject of white male rational individual

(References: Ahmed 2000; Mama 1995; Richards 1997, Howitt and Owusu-Bempah, 1994)

Racism and Mainstream Social Psychology

Social cognition & Social identity theories – bringing back the ‘social’

Cognition and error: exonerates prejudiced & victim is responsible

Experimental methodologies and role of the researcher

(References: Ahmed, 2000; Billig, 1985; Henriques et al. 1998)

Racism and Critical Psychology

Critique of society & discipline Race as socially constructed Focus on power Theorising difference and

subjectivities Look at everyday experiences

from perspective of oppressed Spaces for resistance?

Racism and Critical Psychology

Social Representations and Post colonial theory Reification of western knowledge Power and political motivation Subjectivity and difference Psychoanalysis & unconscious

(References: Hook, 2004, 2006; Howarth, 2004, 2006, 2007)

Resistance and International Development

Resisting racialising representations of development

Resistance and International Development (…) there’s lots of starving

children in the photograph

They might just be kids that are in their house and I think very often …, they just take a picture of someone in Africa leading their normal life and they say poverty because they’re wearing African material(…)

I do remember being like that with my brothers and sisters so you know, do they look so unhappy or starving or something? Not really either, so it's a very ambiguous photo”

Resistance and International Development They are showing people living

with AIDS in Europe, in this country who look different. That means they are having normal life

There is a liberty that people take with African death which people are not taking with whites (…)

I can say that these representations perpetuate the, the feeling of superiority that we, that Europeans feel here… you know we don’t have children dying like that... It’s almost reassuring I guess…

Resistance and International Development

What are the perceptions of development and poverty in Tanzania?

How does racism manifest itself between different stakeholders of international development?

How does racism impact on how people construct their identities and how is it resisted?

What are alternatives to internationally focused development in Tanzania?

Anti-Racism

Paul Gilroy- critical of some anti-racist movements

Anti-Racism

One problem according to Gilroy:

No clear definition of racism

Anti-Racism

“Analysing what racism does in our society means, first of all, claiming “race” and racism back from the margins of British politics” (Gilroy, 1992: 250).

Anti-Racism

“...they identify race with the terms “culture” and “identity”, terms which have their own resonance in antiracist orthodoxy “ (Gilroy, 1992: 254)

Racism and Resistance in Sweden

Anti-racist magazine – a supplement in the Swedish metro from 2004- May 2007.

Identities and Stereotypes

What is the representation of racism?

Discrimination in labour and housing market, in bars and clubs.

Extreme right wing partiesSkinheads

Criticising institutional discrimination?Gringo's Job Centre:

HOSPITAL IS LOOKING FOR DOCTORS

We know that many of the competence of foreign doctors are being wasted by for example being a taxi driver. We think that it is a shame that doctors are not allowed to be in their natural environment. We are now therefore looking for you who have foreign doctor qualifications. You should be hygienic, have surgical precision and enjoy being in the hospital corridors. You will be member of a cleaning team together with the business school graduates. Label your application: “I hate dirt”.

Criticising racist claims?

Editorial: Watch out for the racist label

When chairman of the board of directors of the municipality of Malmo, Ilmar Reepalu, didn't want to accept newly arrived unemployed blackheads because they had been completely unsuccessful to give jobs to those who were already there, he was quickly compared to our neighbours Danish Folkeparti. When Lejonborg wanted to implement language tests, he was compared to right wing extremist in the same league as Jarg Haider in Austria and Le Pen in France. Even though the suggestions were quite bad, they were hardly racist.

Criticising ethnicity?

Abolish ethnicityEthnicity is really stupid. It tells us that we are more different than we really are. It builds ideas about cultures that really only exist in an imagined world and in this way, it shapes conflicts and power structures that are difficult to change. And the whole concept is built on a classic racial thinking that is masked. The talk about the maintenance of cultural identity and language barriers is just an illusion. Even many anti-racists seem fond of the idea of the intrinsic sense of rhythm within the African, or the Latino people's warm blood and relaxed temperament.

We rightly become upset when racists speak about predetermined differences. When this is done by anti-racists, we nod and name it multi-culture. In both cases, the same sick need is to create differences.

How should anti-racism conceptualize difference?