Problematising mainstream Spanish anti-racism: race, racism and whiteness
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Sebastiani, LucaEditorial
Taylor & Francis
Materia
Race (Anti-)racism Institutional racism Whiteness Spain
Fecha
2021Referencia bibliográfica
Published version: Sebastiani, L. (2021). Problematising mainstream Spanish antiracism: race, racism and whiteness. Social Identities, 28(1), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2021.1966762
Resumen
In Spain, anti-racism is of scarce relevance for public debates; besides, it has mainly
been discussed in relation to non-EU migrations until recently, and its historical link with
colonialism is generally unacknowledged. Within this context, the article analyses the
problematisations of ‘race’ and ‘racism’ performed by hegemonic stakeholders in the fields of
anti-discrimination, Roma inclusion and immigrant integration policies (public servants,
NGOs, experts). The fieldwork materials illustrate that, in this understanding, ‘race’ is
rejected not only from a scientific-biological perspective but also as a social-political
category. Also, racism is depoliticised and theorised in a twofold manner: a) as a matter of
stereotypes, prejudices and lack of information about the ‘Other’; b) as the aggressive acts of
explicitly racist individuals/organisations. The structural, historical and institutional
dimensions of racism are addressed only as a background context, or even negated by public
policies. By not confronting the uneven, material power relations (re)produced by racism, this
approach reaffirms ‘institutional whiteness’ as the underlying perspective of mainstream
Spanish anti-racism.