Even anti-racist Orientalists held fixed cultural essences for the racialized

Evidence

Nevertheless, it insinuated itself into their thought and their theories. And thus, in the quest for a radical social force, an active historical subject, it compelled certain blindnesses, bemusements that in turn systematically subverted their analytical constructions and their revolutionary project. But this is still to be shown. To that end we will now turn to the history of the English working classes. Since these workers were one of the centerpieces for the development by radical intelligentsias of the notion of the proletariat as a revolutionary class, an inquiry into the effects of racialism on their consciousness forms the next step in the demonstration of the limits of European radicalism. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 213 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

“Orientalists divided human societies into civilizations that have a core set of values that drive their progress (or lack thereof). The people who inhabit these civilizations were said to have a cultural ‘essence’ that explains who they are across time. Essentialism of this sort is one of the pillars of race making.” Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire: 20 Years after 9/11 (Verso, 2021), 19. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1277 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Even anti-racist scientists accepted fixed cultural essences of races; Orientalist truth about racial difference was radical and ineradicable; Racializing Muslims holds race as both fixed and fluid — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 105 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Racialism infected even radical intelligentsias who then denied its influence #corroborates (0.95) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 213
• Orientalist truth about racial difference was radical and ineradicable #expands (0.90)
• Orientalist civilizational essentialism is a pillar of race making #expands (0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1277
• Orientalists claimed textual reading revealed the fixed essence of Muslims #expands (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 179
• Orientalism treats Islam as a fixed essence rather than living society #expands (0.85) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 771
• Racializing Muslims holds race as both fixed and fluid #expands (0.82) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 105
• Anti-Muslim racism has shifted from bodies to culture while keeping an essentialist logic #expands (0.80) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 156
• Multicultural tolerance can mask racism as respect for culture #exemplifies (0.72)