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Para Uma História Política da Raça
How the history of racism without visible differences between people challenges our understanding of the history of racial thinking
Racial divisions have returned to the forefront of politics in the United States and European societies, making it more important than ever to understand race and racism. But do we? In this original and provocative book, acclaimed historian Jean-Fr�d�ric Schaub shows that we don't--and that we need to rethink the widespread assumption that racism is essentially a modern form of discrimination based on skin color and other visible differences. On the contrary, Schaub argues that to understand racism we must look at historical episodes of collective discrimination where there was no visible difference between people. Built around notions of identity and otherness, race is above all a political tool that must be understood in the context of its historical origins.
Although scholars agree that races don't exist except as ideological constructions, they disagree about when these ideologies emerged. Drawing on historical research from the early modern period to today, Schaub makes the case that the key turning point in the political history of race in the West occurred not with the Atlantic slave trade and American slavery, as many historians have argued, but much earlier, in fifteenth-century Spain and Portugal, with the racialization of Christians of Jewish and Muslim origin. These Christians were discriminated against under the new idea that they had negative social and moral traits that were passed from generation to generation through blood, semen, or milk--an idea whose legacy has persisted through the age of empires to today.
Challenging widespread definitions of race and offering a new chronology of racial thinking, Schaub shows why race must always be understood in the context of its political history.
Racial divisions have returned to the forefront of politics in the United States and European societies, making it more important than ever to understand race and racism. But do we? In this original and provocative book, acclaimed historian Jean-Fr�d�ric Schaub shows that we don't--and that we need to rethink the widespread assumption that racism is essentially a modern form of discrimination based on skin color and other visible differences. On the contrary, Schaub argues that to understand racism we must look at historical episodes of collective discrimination where there was no visible difference between people. Built around notions of identity and otherness, race is above all a political tool that must be understood in the context of its historical origins.
Although scholars agree that races don't exist except as ideological constructions, they disagree about when these ideologies emerged. Drawing on historical research from the early modern period to today, Schaub makes the case that the key turning point in the political history of race in the West occurred not with the Atlantic slave trade and American slavery, as many historians have argued, but much earlier, in fifteenth-century Spain and Portugal, with the racialization of Christians of Jewish and Muslim origin. These Christians were discriminated against under the new idea that they had negative social and moral traits that were passed from generation to generation through blood, semen, or milk--an idea whose legacy has persisted through the age of empires to today.
Challenging widespread definitions of race and offering a new chronology of racial thinking, Schaub shows why race must always be understood in the context of its political history.
- GenresPolitics
Paperback
First published March 19, 2015
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About the author
Jean-Frédéric Schaub
28 books2 followersJEAN-FRÉDÉRIC SCHAUB est né à Paris en 1963. Elu maître de conférences à l’EHESS en 1996, il rejoint le Groupe de recherches hispaniques dirigé par Bernard Vincent au sein du Centre de recherches historiques, et prend la direction du Centre d’études portugaises. En 2004, il est élu à la direction d’études qu’il a intitulée “L’institution des autorités. Histoires comparées”. Il rejoint le Laboratoire Mondes américains et le Centre de recherches sur le Brésil colonial et contemporain en 2011 et siège au conseil du laboratoire depuis 2012. A compter de janvier 2014, il est coresponsable avec Aliocha Maldavsky (ESNA-Paris Ouest) de l’axe 4 du laboratoire «Approches sociopolitiques du fait colonial et impérial : Institutions, processus, transformations».
Sont inscrits en doctorat sous sa direction : Annonciade de Cambolas, João Pedro Gomes, Sébastien Malaprade, Daniel Pimenta Oliveira de Carvalho, Géraldine Méret, Oury Goldman, Paola Revilla Orías, Thomaz Simões.
Il est coresponsable de deux projets de recherches : 1) « O bom governo das gentes » avec João Fragoso de l’Universidade federal do Rio de Janeiro (financement Capes-Cofecub) ; 2) « Baia16-19 » avec Pedro Cardim de l’Universidade Nova de Lisbonne et Evergton de Souza Sales de l’Universidade federal da Bahia (financement IRSES Union européenne).
De 2000 à 2004, il a exercé la fonction de secrétaire du Bureau sous la présidence de Jacques Revel. De 2004 à 2006 il a été membre du Bureau de Danièle Hervieu-Léger. Il siège au Conseil scientifique de l’Ecole (2013-2016), et au Conseil pédagogique de la formation Histoire et civilisations (2013-2014). Il est membre du Bureau du Labex TEPSIS.
En 2006 il fut Visiting Professor au département d’histoire de l’université de Yale (fall term). En 2007 et 2008 il a été Visiting Professor auprès du Modern European History Research Center de l’université d’Oxford. En 2011 il a été Visiting Professor au département d’histoire de l’université de Michigan (fall term). Il a enseigné pendant le semestre de printemps au département d’histoire de New York University, en qualité de lauréat de la Chaire King Juan Carlos. Il a participé aux enseignements doctoraux des universités de Buenos Aires, La Havane et Pablo de Olavide de Séville.
Sont inscrits en doctorat sous sa direction : Annonciade de Cambolas, João Pedro Gomes, Sébastien Malaprade, Daniel Pimenta Oliveira de Carvalho, Géraldine Méret, Oury Goldman, Paola Revilla Orías, Thomaz Simões.
Il est coresponsable de deux projets de recherches : 1) « O bom governo das gentes » avec João Fragoso de l’Universidade federal do Rio de Janeiro (financement Capes-Cofecub) ; 2) « Baia16-19 » avec Pedro Cardim de l’Universidade Nova de Lisbonne et Evergton de Souza Sales de l’Universidade federal da Bahia (financement IRSES Union européenne).
De 2000 à 2004, il a exercé la fonction de secrétaire du Bureau sous la présidence de Jacques Revel. De 2004 à 2006 il a été membre du Bureau de Danièle Hervieu-Léger. Il siège au Conseil scientifique de l’Ecole (2013-2016), et au Conseil pédagogique de la formation Histoire et civilisations (2013-2014). Il est membre du Bureau du Labex TEPSIS.
En 2006 il fut Visiting Professor au département d’histoire de l’université de Yale (fall term). En 2007 et 2008 il a été Visiting Professor auprès du Modern European History Research Center de l’université d’Oxford. En 2011 il a été Visiting Professor au département d’histoire de l’université de Michigan (fall term). Il a enseigné pendant le semestre de printemps au département d’histoire de New York University, en qualité de lauréat de la Chaire King Juan Carlos. Il a participé aux enseignements doctoraux des universités de Buenos Aires, La Havane et Pablo de Olavide de Séville.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 1, 2023
Schaub propõe que o racismo e o conceito de raça não são essencialmente uma forma moderna de discriminação baseadas na cor de pele e em outras diferenças visíveis. Schaub defende que o ponto de viragem surge na península ibérica com a racialização das pessoas de origem judaica e muçulmana.
Gostei do livro, mas achei o início um pouco aborrecido.
Gostei do livro, mas achei o início um pouco aborrecido.
April 10, 2024
En face de l’hégémonie étasunienne des études sur la race, ancrés à l'expérience des Afro-Américains et aveugles sur beaucoup d'autres réalités, il est intéressant de lire quelque chose d'intelligent et bien raisonné qui, tout en tenant compte de l'histoire des États Unis, propose une vision plus ample. En partant des lois sur la limpieza de sangre de la monarchies hispanique de l'âge moderne, Schaub propose comme idée de travail la fait que la pensée raciale vise moins à souligner une altérité évidente qu'à créer une nouvelle forme d'altérité en réponse à l’effacement de la différence de des minorités dans l'ordre sociopolitique: si les descendants de non chrétiens sont mêlés à la majorité de la population, on demande des expédients généalogiques; si les noirs deviennent des hommes libres, on crée les lois Jim Crow; si les juifs ne sont plus distinguables, on promulgue des lois raciales... Une proposition fascinante pour écrire l'histoire politique et culturelle de la race.
September 12, 2024
"After all, the way we regard domesticated or wild animals is quite often far more generous than the way reserved for human populations scarcely different than our own"
"race as an object of study within the social sciences is understood to be a social construction, both discursive and inscribed in practices (institutional, economic, cultural). Racial categorization is based on the conviction that the basis of (imagined) alterity differentiating human groups is not (solely) social but (equally) natural"
"race as an object of study within the social sciences is understood to be a social construction, both discursive and inscribed in practices (institutional, economic, cultural). Racial categorization is based on the conviction that the basis of (imagined) alterity differentiating human groups is not (solely) social but (equally) natural"
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews