Race, Racism, and Antiracism: UNESCO and the Politics of Presenting Science to the Postwar Public

Brattain examines how the concept of race was reconstructed as a biological category, through a history of an international, post-World War II, antiracist public education project sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. While historians have frequently anal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American historical review 2007-12, Vol.112 (5), p.1386-1413
Main Author: Brattain, Michelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Genetics
Human genetics
Humans
Identity politics
Nazi era
Nazism
Philosophy of science
Physical anthropology
Political sociology
Post-war history
Public sphere
Race
Race relations
Racial identity
Racial segregation
Racism
Scientific belief
Scientific racism
Social construction
Social history
UNESCO
World War II
World wars
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Summary:Brattain examines how the concept of race was reconstructed as a biological category, through a history of an international, post-World War II, antiracist public education project sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. While historians have frequently analyzed archaic constructions of races and racial identities, she argues that they must extend historical analysis to the race category more generally and interrogate its use in historical scholarship. She concludes that the preservation of race as a historical, natural category, whether as reformed by antiracist scientists or unintentionally reconstructed in the work of historians, compromises antiracism and facilitates racism.
ISSN:0002-8762
1937-5239
DOI:10.1086/ahr.112.5.1386