White English identity was forged through othering its own poor and Scots

Evidence

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, it became commonplace in London to talk about people who are today considered white as “racial and civilizational others.” It was not simply that these others were being compared to England’s colonial populations or to slaves; they were “savages, pure and simple.” In a nutshell, Makdisi suggests that the moment of the creation of a distinctive white English occidental identity was also the moment when the othering of Arabs, Africans, Scots Highlanders, and the poor of London also took place. It is therefore not possible to demarcate a racial or civilizational separation that falls neatly along national lines. Put another way, projects of racialization have both domestic and international contexts that shape them—a central argument in this book. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 137

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the whiteness-construction literature and with the ‘immodesty moral panics’ theme — both show in-group policing as identity formation. — connects to: English othering of Arabs began as othering of its own white poor and Scots — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 149; White English identity formed simultaneously with othering of domestic and colonial populations; White identity was forged concurrently with the othering of internal British groups. (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• English othering of Arabs began as othering of its own white poor and Scots #expands (1.00) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 149
• White identity was forged concurrently with the othering of internal British groups. #corroborates (1.00)
• White English identity formed simultaneously with othering of domestic and colonial populations #corroborates (0.95)
• English whiteness formed simultaneously with othering of internal and external populations #corroborates (0.95)
• White identity was partly constructed through contrast with the imagined Black other #complicates (0.70) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3408