African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
289 p, Synopsis Examining the relationship between democracy and the politics of race from a cross-national comparative perspective, this study examies specifically how black people fare in the political systems of Britain, Brazil, and the USA. Questions concerning the role of race in the development of democratic ideology, theory and systems of governance, and the levels of difference and commonality in the policitical experiences of people of African descent in the diaspora are addressed. This text uses the traditional tools of comparative political science in order to examine the role of race and race-related issues in each nation. Each of the nation-state chapters traces the historical relationship between the development of democracy and the politics of race. Also discussed are the processes and factors that are the result of the specific national or political differences and those that may be the result of systemic factors that commonly occur in democratic contexts. ; Includes bibliographical references (p.267-281) and index.
this article charts the connection between gendered concepts of 'whiteness' in Anglo-Caribbean contexts and in metropolitan discourses surrounding British national identity, as articulated in eighteenth-century colonial legislation and official correspondence, popular texts and personal narratives of everyday life. It explores the extent to which the socio-sexual practices of British West Indian whites imperilled the emerging conflation between whiteness and Britishness.
The irony of the black man with his top off - such as almost any black music star you care to mention - is that it doesn't say to me: "Look at this wonderful black man with his six-pack." We were never wanted for our minds, which was why it was illegal to teach slaves to read. We were flesh, a commodity, labour. As today's black man shows off his pride and joy, the modern billboard becomes the equivalent of yesteryear's slave stocks. The tragedy with the flesh doesn't end there. Too many of us are impressed by a black fascism which fails to question the oppressive power structures of idealised family structures or the obsession with genes, blood and national pride.
