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Discursive approaches to race and racism.

• Kevin A. Whitehead Kevin A. Whitehead Department of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.477
• Published online: 22 August 2017

In the wake of what has been called the “discursive turn” or “linguistic turn” in the social sciences, research at the intersection of language and communication and race and racism shifted from being largely dominated by quantitative and experimental methods to include qualitative and particularly discursive approaches. While the term “discursive” potentially encompasses a wide range of modes of discourse analysis, discursive approaches share a focus on language use as social action, and as a constitutive feature of actions, events, and situations, rather than as merely a passive means of describing or transmitting information about them. When applied to the study of race and racism, such approaches have examined ways in which language functions to construct, maintain, and legitimate as well as subvert or resist racial and/or racist ideologies and social structures.

Research in these areas has made use of a range of empirical materials, including “elite” texts and talk (media texts, parliamentary debates, academic texts, etc.), individual interviews, focus groups and group discussions, “naturally occurring” talk-in-interaction from conversational and institutional settings, and text-based online interactions. Although these different data types should not be seen as strictly mutually exclusive, each of them serves to foreground particular features of racial or racist discourse(s), thus facilitating or constraining particular sorts of discourse analytic findings. Thus, different data sources respectively tend to foreground ideological features of racial discourse(s) and their intersection with power and domination, including examination of “new” racisms and the production and management of accusations and denials of racism; discursive processes involved in the construction and uses of racial subjectivities and identities; interactional processes through which prejudice and racism are constructed and contested; and the everyday interactional reproduction of systems of racial categories, independently of whether the talk in which they occur can or should be considered “racist.”

• interaction
• subjectivities
• intergroup communication

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Annual Review of Anthropology

Volume 28, 1999, review article, discourse and racism: european perspectives.

• R. Wodak 1 , and M. Reisigl 1
• View Affiliations Hide Affiliations Affiliations: Linguistics Department, University of Vienna, Berggasse 11/1/3, Vienna, A–1090 Austria; e-mail: [email protected] ; [email protected]
• Vol. 28:175-199 (Volume publication date October 1999) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.28.1.175
• © Annual Reviews

This paper provides an overview of the main approaches to the discursive analysis of racist utterances. Moreover, we discuss the notions of racism and race historically and from the point of view of different cultures and languages. We restrict ourselves to the discourse analytical concepts and methodologies, which vary greatly, both in theory and in analysis. We present one example and analyze it in detail as an illustration of the linguistic tools that help make hidden and latent meanings transparent.

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Discursive Approaches to Race and Racism

• Whitehead, Kevin A
• Editor(s): Giles, H ;

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In the wake of what has been called the “discursive turn” or “linguistic turn” in the social sciences, research at the intersection of language and communication and race and racism shifted from being largely dominated by quantitative and experimental methods to include qualitative and particularly discursive approaches. While the term “discursive” potentially encompasses a wide range of modes of discourse analysis, discursive approaches share a focus on language use as social action, and as a constitutive feature of actions, events, and situations, rather than as merely a passive means of describing or transmitting information about them. When applied to the study of race and racism, such approaches have examined ways in which language functions to construct, maintain, and legitimate as well as subvert or resist racial and/or racist ideologies and social structures.

Research in these areas has made use of a range of empirical materials, including “elite” texts and talk (media texts, parliamentary debates, academic texts, etc.), individual interviews, focus groups and group discussions, “naturally occurring” talk-in-interaction from conversational and institutional settings, and text-based online interactions. Although these different data types should not be seen as strictly mutually exclusive, each of them serves to foreground particular features of racial or racist discourse(s), thus facilitating or constraining particular sorts of discourse analytic findings. Thus, different data sources respectively tend to foreground ideological features of racial discourse(s) and their intersection with power and domination, including examination of “new” racisms and the production and management of accusations and denials of racism; discursive processes involved in the construction and uses of racial subjectivities and identities; interactional processes through which prejudice and racism are constructed and contested; and the everyday interactional reproduction of systems of racial categories, independently of whether the talk in which they occur can or should be considered “racist.”

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Discursive Psychology and the “New Racism”

• Published: December 2003
• Volume 26 , pages 461–491, ( 2003 )

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• Kevin McKenzie 1  

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This paper addresses a range of theoretical issues which are the topic of recent social psychological and related research concerned with the “new racism.” We critically examine examples of such research in order to explore how analyst concerns with anti-racist political activism are surreptitiously privileged in explanations of social interaction, often at the expense of and in preference to the work of examining participants' own formulations of those same activities. Such work is contrasted with an ethnomethodologically-informed, discursive psychology which seeks to the explore how participants' talk is responsively oriented to foreclosing the same sort of critique implicitly made available in new racism research as a way for speakers to account for their own and others' activities within the controversy which that same body of research seeks to settle. More specifically, we examine how the rhetorical context of controversy surrounding race and racism is imminent to the situated activities whereby speakers provide for its relevance and not, as assumed in new racism research, some independent factor affecting that interaction. Finally, we conclude with an analysis of an episode of talk recorded in a social science interview having as its topic the nature of cross-cultural contact in which the participants take up the issue of racism as a way of managing the conflicting demands with which they are confronted in accounting for their involvement as Western expatriates living in the Middle East. Throughout our analysis of these materials, the issue of racism is approached for how it features as a participant concern, raised by speakers in the course of attending to the immediate situated interactional business in which they are engaged.

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McKenzie, K. Discursive Psychology and the “New Racism”. Human Studies 26 , 461–491 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HUMA.0000003669.38823.19

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/uk-police-bracing-for-more-far-right-violence-met-by-peaceful-anti-racism-protestors-instead

UK police bracing for more far-right violence met by peaceful anti-racism protestors instead

LONDON (AP) — Far-right demonstrations that had been anticipated by police in dozens of locations across Britain failed to materialize Wednesday as peaceful anti-racism protesters instead showed up in force.

Police had prepared for another night of violence at 100 locations following a week of rioting and disorder fueled by misinformation over a stabbing attack against young girls. Many businesses had boarded up windows and closed down in fear of what lay ahead.

WATCH: Hundreds arrested as anti-immigrant protesters wreak havoc across England

Stand up to Racism and other groups had planned counter-protests in response, but in most places they reclaimed their streets with nothing to oppose.

In London, Bristol, Oxford, Liverpool and Birmingham, large, peaceful crowds gathered outside agencies and law firms specializing in immigration that had been listed by internet chat groups as possible targets of far-right activity.

In resounding choruses they chanted: “Whose streets? Our streets!”

It was a vast change from the chaos that has erupted on streets throughout England and Belfast, Northern Ireland, since July 30.

Cities and towns have been wracked by riots and looting for the past week as angry mobs, encouraged by far-right extremists, clashed with police and counter-demonstrators. The disturbances began after misinformation spread about the  stabbing rampage  that killed three girls in the seaside community of Southport, with social media users falsely identifying the suspect as an immigrant and a Muslim.

Rioters spouting anti-immigrant slogans have attacked mosques and hotels housing asylum-seekers, creating fear in Muslim and immigrant communities. In recent days, reports have emerged of violent counterattacks in some areas.

READ MORE: UK police clash with far-right rioters who tried to storm hotel housing asylum seekers

The head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service said earlier Wednesday that officers were focused on protecting immigration lawyers and services. In addition to thousands of officers already deployed, about 1,300 specialist forces were on standby in case of serious trouble in London.

“We’ll protect those people,″ Commissioner Mark Rowley said. “It is completely unacceptable, regardless of your political views, to intimidate any sector of lawful activity, and we will not let the immigration asylum system be intimidated.”

By early late evening, though, with the exception of scattered disturbances and some arrests, trouble had not erupted.

A crowd of immigrant supporters that quickly grew to several hundred in the London neighborhood of North Finchley found themselves largely alone with several dozen police officers.

The crowd chanted “refugees welcome” and “London against racism.” Some held signs saying “Stop the far right,” “Migration is not a crime” and “Finchley against Fascism.”

At one point, an unruly man who had been shouting at the group and pulling his shirt up to show off an eagle tattoo was punched by a protester. He was led away by someone and officers questioned a possible suspect.

Outside an immigration center in the Walthamstow area in east London, an anti-racism protest leader barked “fascist scum” to which a crowd of hundreds responded: “off our streets.”

In Liverpool, hundreds showed up to defend the Asylum Link immigration center. A grandmother held a placard reading “Nans Against Nazis” and someone else held a sign saying, “When the poor blame the poor only the rich win.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described the previous disturbances as “far-right thuggery,” rejecting any suggestion that the riots were about the government’s immigration policies. He has warned that anyone taking part in the violence would “face the full force of the law.”

Police have made more than 400 arrests and are considering using counter-terrorism laws to prosecute some rioters. The government has pledged to prosecute those responsible for the disorder, including those who use social media to incite the violence.

Among the first to be sentenced was Derek Drummond, 58, who received three years in prison after admitting to violent disorder and punching a police officer in the face in Southport on July 30. He was one of three men jailed after their cases were heard Wednesday at Liverpool Crown Court.

“The three men sentenced today are the tip of the iceberg, and just the start of what will be a very painful process for many who foolishly chose to involve themselves in violent unrest,″ said Jonathan Egan, the senior district crown prosecutor. “Many of those involved will be sent to prison for a long time.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a post on X that the police, city hall and community leaders were working to protect targeted buildings and places of worship.

“I know the shocking scenes have left many Muslims and minority ethnic communities scared and fearful, so I ask my fellow Londoners to check on their friends and neighbors and show them that care and compassion is what Londoners are all about,” he said.

In Walthamstow, real estate agents shut down storefronts early and told staff to work from home. The Nags Head pub informed customers via social media it wouldn’t open because of “potential protest.” The council closed the local library.

Smaller communities were affected as well. Businesses owners in Westcliff-on-Sea, in southern England, boarded up shopfronts.

Saira Hussain, who runs a small architectural practice, described the unrest as “upsetting.”

“I’m a third-generation British Pakistani,’’ she said. “I was born here, studied here, trade here and employ people from this country. I bet I’ve contributed much more to this country than any of these people that are causing trouble.”

Associated Press writers Niko Price and Alix Kroeger in London contributed.

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By Brian Gallagher

For a brief moment, it seemed that even Diet Mountain Dew was going to become a wedge issue in the cultural wars. Instead, it may become a unifier.

Both the Republican and the Democratic candidates for vice president, it turns out, are fans of the soft drink. And in a race where so much attention has focused on heartland voters, it makes sense that a regional favorite has entered the conversation.

The Mountain Dew Moment started two weeks ago when the Republican, Senator JD Vance, told an audience in Middletown, Ohio: “Democrats say that it is racist to believe — well, they say it’s racist to do anything. I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today. I’m sure they’re going to call that racist, too. It’s good.”

On CNN’s “The Source” later that day, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky responded, “What was weird was him joking about racism today and then talking about Diet Mountain Dew. Who drinks Diet Mountain Dew?”

It turns out a lot of people do, including many of Governor Beshear’s constituents. Kentucky has among the highest per capita consumption of Mountain Dew in the United States. Mr. Beshear, a Democrat, quickly walked back the comments and apologized.

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