Race, the Floating Signifier: Featuring Stuart Hall

http://www.mediaed.org

Arguing against the biological interpretation of racial difference, Hall asks us to pay close attention to the cultural processes by which the visible differences of appearance come to stand for natural or biological properties of human beings. Drawing upon the work of writers such as Frantz Fanon, he shows how race is a "discursive construct" and, because its meaning is never fixed, can be described as a "floating signifier."

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[xicana951]

its interesting that you accuse ethnic studies "idiots" of trying to disprove biological determinist models, but if you were to look more into it and inform yourself you would see that that is not what ethnic studies is. True, there are many problems in society and to ignore issues or race and ethnicity only continues to perpetuate inequality. Also, Hall is not "blaming irrelevant people" he is exposing power and the legacy of inequality that those in power continue to benefit to this day.

[xicana951]

well as colorblind as you wish you were, its a bunch of crap. the thing about the situation is that meaning and value are given to race (as much as you want to deny it, its a living reality), so for you to say fuck who I am, is very insulting. Perhaps you could do some extra credit reading and inform yourself.... Richard Delgado, Derrick Bell, Jean Stefanic, just to name a few.

[tenrii1]

IndisputableAttitude...your confusion tells me that you really arent suited to anything but scrub toilets or work in the police service.

[IndisputableAttitude]

@tenrii1 So, you don't believe in so-called Affirmative Action?

[IndisputableAttitude]

This guy uses sophistry to say something very stupid: race doesn't exist. These morons flip-flop to suit their propaganda objectives: When they want to have people mix, they say race doesn't exist. When they want Negroes to get preferential treatment for job placement, race suddenly exists again. They aren't suited to work in an institute of higher learning, except to scrub the toilets.

[tenrii1]

The invention of race and classification of people has been the greatest tragedy to befall mankind. Its really as if for the past 600 years the world has lived through an antecedent and current nazification of experience. We see race and the world through a nazified sensibility.

[tenrii1]

All Stuart Hall is saying is that science cannot produce a smoking gun which proves that there is a genetic based difference in intelligence between random members of all races. Its no good producing specious comparisions between cocker spaniels and great danes, where is the EVIDENCE? Its like comparing a black boxer with a white rower and saying that proves a genetic difference between races lol.I am black and I couldnt box for the life of me. The truth is that racists are generally stupid lol

[TheCanine2]

Race is all in our mind...hmmm. The problem is that liberal academics try to use different tools to describe humans than the scientific tools they use to describe animals, which of course contradicts the liberal notion that humans are "just another animal." It's an intellectual (and I use thet term loosely) slight of hand that isn't very effective, like trying to say that cocker spaniels and great danes are the same thing just because they can mate and reproduce.

[Sacher01]

There are some interesting points raised here but even his first argument I have problems with. How could there be no link between my biology and my understaning of the world? Clearly people aren't born racist or with any specific ideologies but there are genetic differences between races which to an arguable extent may determine ones outlook on the world. Disregard for sociobiology is a lacking force in this lecture.

[pluxorama]

We're in a race? damn i must be miles behind by now *starts running*

[DJmixmastermicro]

Buddhism already postulated the idea of social construction of ethnicity, race, age, sex, etc, in its realization that so-called "reality" is actually fabricated illusion and Enlightenment is available to all humans.. So nothing new here.. Unfortunately most people, even so-called Buddhists, have remain deluded and will continue to be deluded for millenia.. Clinging to delusions is a natural human tendency.

[smitlau]

It's not as insulting as you imply it to be... I can see where motgio is getting at. People are trying to eliminate discrimination against any so-called race, so in actual fact race is in reference to species. Race shouldn't be the determining factor in anything. it's not that its "fuck who i am" it's that race is not the emphasis in determining the person. So perhaps, xicana, it is you who should really re-read what it is you're arguing.