Debunking mainstream anti-racism in the Spanish context:“Anti-rumour” strategies as a case of psychology-based anti-racism Luca, Sebastiani (Anti-)racism Psychology-based anti-racism Institutional racism Anti-rumour strategies Spain This article results from the research project POLITICS — The politics of anti-racism in Europe and Latin America: knowledge production, political decision-making and collective struggles, in which I participated as a post-doctoral researcher at Centre for Social Studies (CES), University of Coimbra This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No ERC-2016-COG-725402). Racism is hardly discussed in Spanish public debates: however, when approached through policy, it is generally understood either as violent acts committed by extremists, or as a matter of stereotypes/prejudices/lack of information about cultural Others. This article focuses on the latter understanding, as performed by Spanish “anti-rumour” strategies, a varied ensemble of initiatives aimed at dismantling stereotypes of migrants and racial minorities, mainly by encouraging better knowledge and empathy. By approaching these initiatives as a representative case of mainstream, psychology-based perspectives on anti-racism and drawing on fieldwork conducted in relevant Spanish locations, I focus on their main assumptions and theoretical/political implications. Despite the heterogeneity of such initiatives, the fieldwork analysis points to common flaws; particularly in the ways their “positive” narratives and allegedly inclusive approaches might foster narrow definitions of racism, silencing its institutional/structural/governmental dimensions and potentially normalizing racist power relations. 2024-09-30T07:42:16Z 2024-09-30T07:42:16Z 2022 journal article Published version: Sebastiani, L. (2023). Debunking mainstream anti-racism in the Spanish context: “Anti-rumour” strategies as a case of psychology-based anti-racism. Ethnicities, 23(6), 867-885. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968221103091 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/95238 10.1177/14687968221103091 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/ERC-2016-COG-725402 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Sage