Global Dimensions of in the Modern World: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives. Heidelberg: Manfred Berg; Simon Wendt; Curt Engelhorn Chair of American History at the University of Heidelberg; Heidelberg Center for American Studies, 12.07.2007-14.07.2007.

Reviewed by Simon Wendt

Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (August, 2007)

The conference “Global Dimensions of Racism dressing some of the most vital research ques‐ in the Modern World: Comparative and Transna‐ tions, Berg frst mentioned the problem of defni‐ tional Perspectives” was a joint project of the Curt tions. Few scholars questioned the constructed Engelhorn Chair of American History at the Uni‐ nature of race, he said, but there was disagree‐ versity of Heidelberg and the Heidelberg Center ment as to whether the term racism ought to be for American Studies. It was made possible by the used only for ideologies and practices that empha‐ generous support of the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung size putative biological diferences and hierar‐ and the Schurman Association for the Promotion chies between humans, or whether it should also of American History at the University of Heidel‐ cover exclusionary concepts based on cultural dif‐ berg. ference. A related question was how race, class The conference aimed to examine how racial prejudice, and religious stigmatization interact. ideologies and practices created, shaped, and le‐ The origins and difusion of notions of race and gitimized systems of domination in the modern racism across the globe were one of the most im‐ world. Emphasizing the global nature of racism, portant research questions the conference ought the conference brought together scholars from to address, Berg said. various disciplines and regional specializations to The conference’s frst panel focused on explore this phenomenon from comparative and Racism and Slavery. Michael Zeuske (University of transnational perspectives. In his welcome re‐ Cologne) talked about slavery, post-emancipation, marks, Manfred Berg (University of Heidelberg) and the construction of race in Cuba in the nine‐ briefy discussed the historiographical signif‐ teenth century. Zeuske stated that the shift toward cance of the conference and sketched out a tenta‐ the use of African slaves in the Atlantic world be‐ tive research agenda for a global approach to the tween 1650 and 1850 did not necessarily require history of race and racism. Historians, he said, deliberate racialization. In Cuba, this changed in had so far shied away from writing a major syn‐ the early nineteenth century, when Cuban intel‐ thesis on the topic, partly because they tended to lectual Francisco de Arango y Parreno formulated focus on their particular area of expertise. Berg theories of biological diferences between “races” stressed that the conference was unlikely to pro‐ to justify the legal exclusion and social subjuga‐ duce a truly global narrative, since it deliberately tion of blacks on the Island. According to Zeuske, sought to foster a pluralistic approach that would racial diferences continued to play an important produce disagreements and controversies. Ad‐ role among free slaves in post-emancipation H-Net Reviews

Cuba. Zeuske argued that Cuban nationalism, de‐ useful for studying race, since it acknowledges spite propagated color-blindness, also contained that ideas, objects, and institutions can be under‐ racial ideas. In his paper on historiographical de‐ stood in local terms and can be appropriated in bates on slavery and race, Peter Kolchin (Univer‐ diferent ways. In the global processes of appro‐ sity of Delaware) warned against seeing race as priation, he said, politics and science played a cru‐ the primary characteristic of slavery in North cial role. While political ideas of equality fostered America. While race certainly mattered, not all the emergence of racial ideologies to justify difer‐ slave systems were based on race. In addition, ence, scientifc discourses became the basis for generalizations about the racial nature of slavery systematic thinking about race. Dikötter stressed would obscure diferences with regard to change that the racial belief systems that these discourses over time and regional variations. Jennifer Mor‐ produced were not only extremely fexible and gan (New York University) discussed the interrela‐ malleable, but they also frequently overlapped tionship between colonial numeracy, gender, and and interacted with other belief systems, such as racial thinking in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. religion or class. According to Morgan, the slave trade and the The second panel focused on racism and colo‐ arithmetical calculations it entailed refected and nialism in Asia and Eastern Europe. Wolfgang contributed to a racist discourse that commodi‐ Seifert (University of Heidelberg) explored the fed and dehumanized African women, men, and role of race in Japan’s assimilation policy in occu‐ children. In seventeenth century England, being pied Korea between 1910 and 1945. Many histori‐ subjected to being counted to gather demographic ans, he said, equated Japan’s pre-1945 history data was considered invasive and degrading, sug‐ with that of Nazi Germany. Yet fascist Japan, while gesting that numeracy was part of a “political committing numerous atrocities, never planned arithmetic” that contained racist elements. genocide nor did it develop a racist ideology to The keynote address was delivered by Frank justify such crimes. According to Seifert, Korea Dikötter (University of London/University of Hong represents an important case study to probe the Kong), who provided historical insights into the contradictions inherent in Japan’s assimilation “Racialization of the Globe.” Dikötter said that policies. Although notions of racial superiority ex‐ people commonly rely on three approaches to ex‐ isted in Japan, Japanese authorities stressed the plain the persistence of racial systems. The “com‐ similarities between Korea and Japan in terms of mon sense approach” refects the continued belief ethnic origin and culture. Japan not only consid‐ that races actually exist, a belief that has been ered assimilation of Koreans into Japanese society widely discredited, although some scientifc stud‐ feasible but also desirable. In the end, however, ies contribute to its persistence. The “imposition assimilation turned out to be a veiled attempt to model” argues that Western notions of racism produce loyal Korean subjects, many of whom were exported to and imposed on non-western re‐ were discriminated against in both occupied Ko‐ gions of the world. Proponents of the “difusion rea and Japan. Heinz-Dietrich Löwe (University of model,” on the other hand, believe that Western Heidelberg) focused on the Russian Empire’s poli‐ capitalism eventually replicates racial belief sys‐ cy of assimilation toward ethnic minorities. Löwe tems around the globe. According to Dikötter, the argued that discrimination toward those minori‐ last two approaches sufer from serious shortcom‐ ties was a result of class animosities, not racism. ings, since they are Euro-centrist, deny agency to In the case of Jews, for example, anti-Semitism non-European societies, and propagate a unilater‐ metamorphosed into an anti-Western ideology al understanding of racism. Dikötter argued that that defled Russian Jews as representatives of the an “appropriation model” would be much more country’s unpopular modernization, not as an in‐

2 H-Net Reviews ferior race. Bolshevik authorities later perpetuat‐ racism in in the age of the “War on Ter‐ ed such class-based arguments, portraying Jews as ror,” arguing that incidents of anti-Arab violence representatives of the petty bourgeoisie. Even in this country represented only the latest chapter during the era of the Soviet Union, Löwe said, no in the “civilizing mission” of Western nations. Vio‐ articulated racial ideologies developed in the lence against “Indigenous Others” in the “War on country. Terror” may no longer be justifed by articulated The third panel provided insights into racial ideologies, Moses said, but ofcial rhetoric transnational racial ideologies in North America, replicated the traditional civilizing mission dis‐ Germany, and Australia. Claudia Bruns (Universi‐ course and similarly imposed Western norms on ty of Hildesheim) talked about the interrelations them. between North American racism and German The fourth panel explored the diferences and anti-Semitism, using German intellectual Wilhelm interrelationships between race, caste, and class. Marr as a case study to explore the transfer of Harald Fischer-Tiné (Jacobs University of Bremen) racial ideas across the Atlantic. Bruns criticized explored what he called European convicts’ the common dichotomization between anti-black “racial dividend” in Indian jails in the second half racism and anti-Semitism. The case of Marr, who of the nineteenth century. Fischer-Tiné argued is considered the founding father of German anti- that European convicts clearly benefted from the Semitism, demonstrated how these two racial be‐ racial hierarchies that British colonial authorities lief systems could intersect, overlap, and infu‐ had established in India. Although the penal sys‐ ence each other. Considered a radical democrat tem could at times be extremely brutal for these who had participated in the Revolution of 1848, “white subalterns,” they tended to be more privi‐ Marr turned into a rabid anti-Semite after a ten- leged than native prisoners, who received less year stay in the and Central Ameri‐ food, were treated more harshly, and were sent to ca. Adapting racial ideas to traditionally religious less hospitable regions of the country. Gita anti-Semitic discourses upon his return, Marr in‐ Dharampal-Frick (University of Heidelberg) ex‐ creasingly emphasized the innate biological dif‐ plored the impact of Western concepts of race on ferences that seemingly set Jews apart from other Indian discourses on caste. First used by the Por‐ German citizens. John David Smith (University of tuguese in the early sixteenth century, the term North Carolina at Charlotte) also used a biograph‐ caste initially described many things, including ical approach to explore the infuence of Ameri‐ ancestral origins. Notions of racial purity were can racism on the thinking of Austrian anthropol‐ not at the heart of this discourse. In the following ogist Felix von Luschan. During a trip to America centuries, however, Indians appropriated and in 1914 and 1915, von Luschan sought to fnd laws adapted Western concepts of race, which contrib‐ in heredity by studying and measuring thousands uted to the racialization of caste. In the panel’s of African American adults and children. Al‐ last paper, Urs Matthias Zachmann (University of though he initially argued for genetic commonali‐ Munich) attempted to refute the long-held idea ties of all people, challenged notions of white that Japan adopted Western notions of race and supremacy, and believed that all “races” had some racism in the nineteenth century. Biological con‐ inferior traits, he supported to rid soci‐ cepts of race, Zachmann said, could not develop eties of seemingly inferior members and later since the Japanese had long conceived of them‐ abandoned non-racial . According to selves as an “interracial” nation. More important, Smith, Luschan’s trip to the United States exacer‐ Western racial belief systems suggested that Japan bated his racial thinking. In the panel’s last paper, was an inferior race, which limited the country’s Dirk Moses (University of Sydney) explored ability to develop a concept of racial superiority.

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Japan’s vows to establish a Pan-Asian alliance netics. Rather Verwoerd, who entered politics in with China owed less to genuinely held ideas the 1930s, developed his own theory of cultural about race than to opportunistic self-interest in racism that viewed black South Africans as part of the realm of international relations. Despite the an inferior civilization that was incompatible apparent lack of racial concepts, minorities such with white civilization. as Chinese immigrants were seriously discrimi‐ The last panel focused on race and racism in nated against. Asia and the Near East. Benjamin Braude (Boston The ffth panel explored the interconnections College) argued that racism was a distinctly Euro‐ between racism, nationalism, and imperialism. pean phenomenon that did not develop in the Paul A. Kramer (Johns Hopkins University) talked Near East. According to Braude, Near Eastern lan‐ about the interaction between racial politics in guages did not use concepts of color to describe the United States and the nation’s emergence as diferent groups, while Islamic religion stressed an imperial power in the twentieth century. Ac‐ universalism, ideas that clearly difered from col‐ cording to Kramer, America’s imperial engage‐ or-consciousness and emphasis on particularity ment in the world led to “imperial reconstruc‐ that characterized Greek, Judaic, and Christian tions” of racial formations in the United States. Af‐ traditions. In addition, Islamic societies condoned ter much debate about American imperialism, a “racially mixed” families if the ofspring of such “continentalist” approach, which stressed racial unions was raised as Muslims. While religion, purity, space, and power, eventually dominated among other factors, contributed to the recogni‐ American foreign policy. However, according to tion of group diferences, Braude said, conficts Kramer, the contradictions inherent in this con‐ over these diferences should not be interpreted cept created the possibility for the emergence of a as a consequence of racism. Gotelind Müller-Saini hegemonic anti-racism that contributed to the end (University of Heidelberg) focused on Chinese of ofcially sanctioned racism in the United concepts of race and the country’s reactions to States. Christian Geulen (University of Koblenz) Western forms of racialization around 1900. Be‐ presented a paper on the intellectual and scholar‐ fore Chinese contact with Western ideas about ly discourse on race in the twentieth century. race, being Chinese was defned primarily in cul‐ Stressing the ambiguity of racial concepts, he ar‐ tural terms. While racial concepts were not com‐ gued that modern racial ideologies could not be pletely absent, such ideas were malleable and reduced to mere biology. Rather such belief sys‐ fexible. When learning that Western nations tems always included “culturalist” arguments that viewed the Chinese as a “yellow race,” Chinese in‐ were just as destructive as biological determin‐ tellectuals debated whether such imposed desig‐ ism. Discussing how these cultural discourses af‐ nations should be rejected or adopted. Chinese fected racial ideologies propagated in Nazi Ger‐ nationalism and Japanese occupation contributed many, Geulen called for a broader understanding to a more pronounced use of western race theo‐ of racism that takes seriously the interconnected‐ ries in the twentieth century. Müller-Saini ness of biology and culture. Christoph Marx (Uni‐ stressed, however, that China must be seen as an versity of Essen) ofered insights into the intellec‐ active agent that adapted western concepts of tual maturation of Hendrik Verwoerd, one of the race rather than as a passive receiver of these most important architects of apartheid in South concepts. Africa. Trained in psychology and sociology, Ver‐ The fnal roundtable discussion began with woerd spent some time studying in Germany in comments by Boris Barth (University of Konstanz) the 1920s, but according to Marx, he was not in‐ and Manfred Berg (University of Heidelberg). fuenced by European theories about race and ge‐

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Barth frst made a few remarks about racism and that historians could focus on the interrelation‐ genocide. Using a defnition of genocide that ship between racial practice and racial ideologies stresses state-actors, murder, and the intention to in moments of social and political crisis as one kill, he argued that racism does not automatically way to historicize the emergence of racist con‐ lead to genocidal ideas, while some form of cepts. Another suggestion was to distinguish be‐ racism is always part of genocide. In his general tween various degrees of racism. The discussion comments on the conference, Barth noted that the demonstrated that historians frequently lack an problems of defning racism in a global context of‐ adequate vocabulary to describe various forms of ten refected problems of translation. Barth also group hatred. believed that scholars needed to study more close‐ Despite the difculties that the conference ly the “missing link” between pre-colonial racism participants encountered when discussing race and modern racist anti-Semitism. Another key and racism from comparative and transnational question that needed to be answered, he said, was perspectives, the conference clearly sparked im‐ the question why some societies developed racial portant conversations that are likely to produce belief systems while others did not. Manfred Berg further investigations into the global dimensions stated that too narrow defnitions of racism would of this phenomenon. Revised versions of the con‐ be likely to exclude certain processes of racializa‐ ference papers will be published in a conference tion. Nevertheless, scholars should refect on the volume in early 2009. analytical tensions between racial belief systems and racial practices when analyzing the global and transnational dimensions of racism. Accord‐ ing to Berg, numerous papers of the conference had demonstrated that global perspectives were important, since they had called attention to the complex processes of appropriation that called into question simple impositions models. In terms of a future research agenda, Berg stressed the sig‐ nifcance of biographical approaches that ap‐ peared to be the most promising method to probe the transnational difusion of racial thinking. During the subsequent discussion, the debate revolved primarily around the issue of defni‐ tions. Defnitions of both genocide and racism were discussed at length. Many conference partic‐ ipants were skeptical as to whether one defnition of race or racism could be found, since there were so many diferent exclusionary ideologies and practices in world history related to ideas of race. The roundtable discussion thus picked up on a key issue that was repeatedly raised during the conference. Indeed, as was pointed out by several conference participants, many racialized prac‐ tices were never named racist, yet they were based on racialized worldviews. Some suggested

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Citation: Simon Wendt. Review of Global Dimensions of Racism in the Modern World: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives. H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews. August, 2007.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=28296

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