Class 12 - Race, a floating signifier Part II
Welcome back!
Welcome back. This week, we’re looking at part two of Stuart Hall’s essay, “Race: the Floating Signifier.” As a reminder, the link to the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PodKki9g2Pw
We’ll watch from the middle until the end.
Three Positions: realist, textual and discursive
In this second part of the lecture, Hall sets out three positions we can take in relation to race:
- Realist
- Textual
- Discursive
In your breakout groups, I want you to return to the text (https://ereader.perlego.com/1/book/2397448/373) and to do the following:
a. Discuss in groups to establish a clear definition of these three positions: the realist, the textual and the discursive. b. What does the view of race as discursive suggest about the history of race science? c. What is Hall arguing (and what is he not) arguing about the cultural functions of science? d. What is Hall saying when he argues that the body is a “text” e. What do you think Hall means by conducting politics “without a guarantee”?
Homework
For next time, I want you to read this essay from Frontier magazine, by Than Toe Aung, about notions of race and ethnicity in Burma: https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/identity-crisis/.
Post to the discussion board with some responses to this piece that you have read.