New Ethnicities, Old Racisms

by Phil Cohen (Editor)

Questioning received notions of multiculturalism, this book develops a wide ranging critique of essentialist definitions of race, nation and ethnicity across key areas of cultural policy and practice. Starting from the 'new ethnicities' thesis of Stuart Hall - who writes a foreword to the book - the contributors explore changing ethnicities within the old frameworks of racism.

Linking theoretical analysis with substantive issues, the book focuses on three major

·new ways of tackling popular cultures of racism

·the histories of previously marginalized racisms - and sexisms

·the impact of changing patterns of migration on the local/global city

Throughout, the contributors are concerned with new ethnicities - both white and black - which have Questioning received notions of multiculturalism, this book develops a wide ranging critique of essentialist definitions of race, nation and ethnicity across key areas of cultural policy and practice. Starting from the 'new ethnicities' thesis of Stuart Hall the contributors explore changing ethnicities within the old frameworks of racism.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1999

About the author

Phil Cohen was a British cultural theorist, urban ethnographer, community activist, educationalist and poet. He was involved in the London underground counter-culture scene and gained public notoriety as "Dr John", a leader in the squatter's rights movement but is now better known for his work on youth culture and the impact of urban regeneration on working-class communities, particularly in East London, with a focus on issues of race and popular racism. More recently the scope of his work has widened to includes issues of identity politics, memory and loss, and the future of the Left in Britain. His most recent writing and research focuses on the transformation of object relations within digital capitalism, especially in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic and the environmental crisis. Most recently (2023) he has embarked on a series of collaborative book projects with graphic artists. Cohen's academic work is trans-disciplinary and draws on concepts from linguistics and narratology, psycho-analysis and anthropology, cultural history and social phenomenology. He was Emeritus Professor at the Centre for Cultural Studies at the University of East London, and a member of the Livingmaps Network which he founded in 2013. Cohen was also a member of Compass, a Gramscian think tank within the Labour Party and was on the editorial board of New Formations. His work has been translated into French, German, Swedish, Italian, French and Japanese.