Race is a culturally invented discursive category used to inferiorize groups.

Evidence

Let’s begin with a definition: In this chapter we discuss “race” as a culturally created discursive category used for the express purpose of defining some people as biologically and culturally inferior to others. Race is a result of a specific manifestation of the logic of domination as it has been applied to particular human cultures. Or, in Val Plumwood’s words (2002), it is a particular assertion of “centric thinking” where one group, believing and defining itself to be superior—and having the means to control the organization of knowledge through specific institutions like science, schooling, and the media—uses language to present a particular illusion that begins to function as truth. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1106

Categorization

• DEFINE: Textbook-precise definition of race as discursive category — directly operational for teaching.
• XREF: Ties race to earlier chapters’ logic of domination (ch 5, 8, 24 claims) and to Plumwood’s centric thinking. — connects to: Medieval Europeans did not view dark-skinned Africans as naturally inferior. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1119; Race has no genetic basis yet produces real material consequences. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1112; Race is a product of racism, so groups are racialized rather than racial. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 107 (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• Race is a product of racism, so groups are racialized rather than racial. #corroborates (1.00) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 107
• Race is a political category disguised as a biological one #corroborates (0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1179
• Races are produced by racism, not by biology #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 76
• Race is the conceptual form through which the practice of racism operates #corroborates (0.85)
• Cultural traits like language, clothing, and religious practice can racialize a group. #expands (0.80)
• Racialization assigns presumed negative traits to define a group. #expands (0.80) — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 594
• The racist creates the inferiority of the colonized. #corroborates (0.80)
• Cultural racism substitutes cultural traits for biological ones in racializing groups. #expands (0.75)
• Religious identity can become racialized by imputing biological and cultural inferiority #corroborates (0.70) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 712
• Race and ethnicity are socially constructed rather than natural categories. #corroborates (0.70) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 104
• Race is one among several constructed categories used to justify inequality #corroborates (0.70) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 28
• Racism today operates mainly through claims about inferior cultures rather than biology #expands (0.70)
• Race is an unstable, fully-fledged social fact like class or gender #corroborates (0.70) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 140
• Race is a shifting disposition, not a fixed category. #corroborates (0.70)
• Purity, like race, is a socially constructed discursive category #corroborates (0.70) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3228