Racial categories in three nations: Australia, South Africa and the United States

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Title: Racial categories in three nations: Australia, South Africa and the United States
Author(s): Farquharson, Karen
Abstract: It is now widely accepted that race is a social construction, having different meanings in different parts of the world. Racial formation theory argues that race is a process of racial formation, where the meanings associated with race need to be viewed as changeable and situated in time and space. This paper compares racial categories in the United States, South Africa and Australia. I argue that current racial categories in all three nations have been strongly influenced by colonization and the ideology of white supremacy. These have led to racial hierarchies in each where whites are at the top and blacks at the bottom. However the people included by each country in their black and white racial categories differ, revealing important variations in racial formation processes.
Publication type: Conference paper
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology
Source: Proceedings of 'Public sociologies: lessons and trans-Tasman comparisons', the Annual Conference of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA), Auckland, New Zealand, 04-07 December 2007
Publication year: 2007
Keyword(s): Australia; Migration; Racial categories; Racial formation theory; South Africa; United States
Publisher: Australian Sociological Association
ISBN: 9782868691145
Publisher URL: http://www.tasa.org.au/conferences/conferencepapers07/pages/refereed_papers.htm
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