BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROGRAM
Race, Nation-State, International Relations (IR 245/POLS 216)
Spring Semester 2003
Professor Hilbourne A. Watson
Office Hours: Office: Coleman 109
Tues. 11:00-12:00; Thurs. 11:00-12:0
Mon. 5:45-6:45 pm & by appointment
Class: Coleman 251
INTRODUCTION
Main concepts:
This course examines the historical and contemporary ways in which states, nations, thinkers (e.g.
scholars and philosophers) and other actors have contributed to the racialization of international
politics, international society and forms of identity. The course necessarily combines emphases from
international relations and international political economy. International relations cover more than
relations between/among national states, as so-called non-state actors often play important roles in
international relations; at times certain non-state actors (e.g. transnational corporations, other
multilateral institutions and certain non-governmental organizations) play far more influential roles
in international relations/affairs than many states. International political economy (IPE) deals with
the social relations of production at the world level. IPE is much more than what is commonly
called the “politics of international economic relations.” IPE addresses power relations at multiple
levels (coercion, oppression, exploitation, domination, hegemony and counter-hegemony,
cooperation and so on) in relation to states, institutions, organizations, class, race, ethnicity and
gender on a world scale.
Race in the context of Political Economy:
Political economy is a social science that studies the historical basis of social development. It is
concerned with the social relations of production that groups of individuals and larger and more
complex entities (e.g. social classes, class strata and fractions) enter into around production, distribution, exchange, consumption of goods and services, and the accumulation of capital and power.
Coercion has played a crucial role in the rise of cities and states, state making, war making, surplus
extraction and appropriation and other factors.
Race is a social construction. Race has been made to play an important role in the making of the
modern world. Factors such as economic exploitation, racial, ethnic and gender oppression have
featured prominently in the production of race, racial consciousness and racial domination for a
variety of ends. Notably, race was used as a factor to justify slavery, disenfranchise certain groups on
the basis of ancestry, birth, blood, and culture, deny citizenship to certain groups, frame beliefs
around labor procurement, production, the structuring of the division of labor, and to marginalize,
criminalize and even subjugate and dehumanize groups of humans. Many people across the world
have struggled against their dehumanization by fighting against institutions, policies and practices
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that racialized and commodified their existence (e.g. chattel slavery, buying and selling of labor
power) and for emancipation form colonialism and imperialism.
The dominant philosophical and theoretical debates and intellectual discourses have been
instrumental in producing racialized consciousness and asserting the primacy of certain groups in
history. Law, politics, private property, property rights, slavery, freedom, ethnicity, nationalism,
religion, labor market, employment and compensation strategies, enfranchisement and
disfranchisement, racial privilege, political patronage, and segregation have been used to advance the
interests of certain groups while undermining and/or limiting the prospects for others to make
historical progress. The racialization of global politics as a hegemonic strategy continues to be
contested by counter-hegemonic strategies. As such, racialization is neither fixed nor absolute.
Race is a socially constructed phenomenon. In other words, factors such as phenotype, ethnic
background and other differences that distinguish one group of humans from another do not mean
that race is reducible to a biological category: humans are not slaves to biology. Difference is not an
absolute marker of identity rather difference is a factor within commensurability. This suggests that
neither race nor culture is a natural embodiment of humans, as ‘our nature is of our culture.’ Biology
does not produce races rather humans use biology to create racial differences partly by naturalizing
phenotype. In other words, humans invent the category of race and assign meanings to it and set up
racial hierarchies for certain reasons. In this light race and racial consciousness acquire meaning
within historical social relations. Notably, slavery, indenture, sharecropping, wage labor and other
ways of procuring labor and producing, extracting and appropriating surplus labor under capitalism
were rationalized and justified through politics, law, ideology, and other processes. Colonialism and
imperialism provided strategic rationalizations for racialization. In effect, racialization has worked
through a number of retrospective illusions – reading history backward - around claims of ancestry,
blood, nation, culture, and religion to inform right, status and privilege for some while denying them
to others.
Dominant forms of philosophical thought have helped to nurture and rationalize the racialization of
global politics, for example, by normalizing economic, political, and cultural projects around the
British notion of the ‘white man’s burden,’ the French idea of the ‘civilizing mission,’ German
‘lebensraum’ and American ‘manifest destiny.’
International relations theory is a form of political theory in the sense that the seminal issues that
international relations theory addresses—world order and the good life; the state of nature, human
nature and culture; reason; universality and particularity; power, authority and legitimacy; rights,
including individual rights, human rights and state’s rights; and justice and freedom—are among the
main concerns that political theory and political philosophy address. These issues are also important
to the concerns of political economy.
The tendency to treat particular ways of studying and understanding the world as though they were
the universal way to approach all phenomena is a cultural practice. It leads to the belief that
philosophy, theory and knowledge are ‘value free’ in the sense of having an objective existence that
is independent of human construction. In reality, there is no neutral or objective social theory of
history or society precisely because all theory is produced for some purpose, some particular end.
Invariably, those with power and influence and who exercise hegemony or seek to become
hegemonic seek ways to elevate their views and interests to the status of universality, by equating
their interests with universal human interests, and by seeking to objectify the knowledge systems
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they prefer. This makes it easier to govern society with its consent. This is central to how hegemony
is established.
The state is not a neutral institution in society. In order to understand the functions of the state we
must begin with the social and political nature of the state. One of the state's primary functions is to
mediate contradictions in social life. Race has been elevated to a leading contradiction in social life
that sometimes appears to dominate all other contradictions to the point of making class and other
factors seem secondary if not irrelevant.
One of the major challenges of theoretical and political discourse is to combat and overcome
racialization by working to overcome and abolish all forms of racial supremacy.
Approach and Method Employed in Course:
This course adopts an historical-analytical approach that investigates the various forms of
knowledge about race and racialization in the international relations context. The approach is views
history as undergoing a process of constant (dialectical) change, rather than repeating itself in a
circular fashion. In terms of theory it emphasizes critical modes of explanation to arrive at the
clarification and understanding of phenomena, and it locates its explanatory modes in the history of
all the spheres of human practice. The course recognizes that the world can be studied from
different angles. Philosophically, it searches for the basis of knowledge by starting from the premise
that the world can be known (i.e. the world is knowable), and it holds that ways of coming to know
the world start with the conscious acts and historical practices of humans.
States are not limited to the geographical space over which they govern, even though the state is a
political institution that is based in a given territory (i.e. a geographically demarcated area). However,
the international system in which states are embedded and of which they are integral parts
encompasses much more than political relations, diplomatic relations between different states. States
are integral parts of an international system. When states and non-state actors ‘racialize’ the world or
embrace racialized conceptions about rights, privilege, power, nationality, gender, citizenship, and
other forms of belonging, their actions always produce contradictory global consequences for
individuals, groups, nations, and other states and institutions. The idea is to try to understand this
process and the implications.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Attendance and Participation:
This is a lecture/discussion class. Regular attendance and participation are important to make class
participation and discussion effective. Each student has a responsibility to become an active member
of the class. Active participation and engaged discussion depend on close reading and preparation of
reading assignments. Participation and discussion work better when they are connected to the
subject matter being studied. Teaching and learning are inextricably connected which means that
students should work at becoming active participants in the learning process, not from the simple
angle of consumers of information and knowledge but also as contributors to the production of
knowledge. From this angel students should not wait for a professor to generate discussion rather
they should become initiators and leaders in that very process. When students plan and use their
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time effectively and thoughtfully they stand a better chance of getting the most from reading and
preparing for class. It is incumbent on each student to come to class prepared to contribute to the
life of the intellectual life of the class for a mutually beneficial experience.
2. Papers/Research Paper:
Students will write three papers, two of which be based on reading materials and lectures and each
of the two will receive equal weight. The third paper will be a research paper. The research paper
carries a research proposal requirement.
4. Research Paper Proposal/Research Paper:
Each student has to write a research paper of 11-12 pages on a topic of interest that reflects a
concrete relationship to the themes and issues addressed in the class. Connecting research projects
to the issues dealt with in the class provides the most effective way for students to expand their
knowledge of the course material to broader issues in the world. I will review each paper proposal
on its merit to determine its relevance to the course and I will provide feedback to help each student
arrive at a clear sense of how to approach the research project and with a view toward helping
him/her top produce a useful and relevant research paper. The purpose of theory is to facilitate
explanation of phenomena. Therefore, each student has to demonstrate evidence of a theoretical
framework in the research paper proposal and in the research paper, identify at least one hypothesis
to be tested, and identify the issues to be analyzed. The research paper must conform to a “Style
Manual” such Kate Turabian’s A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations
(1996).
Research Proposal:
The research proposal should be about two to three pages on the topic. It should contain the
following:
paper title
table of contents
narrative statement about the nature of the research project, why you have chosen your topic
and its relevance to the course
the hypothesis(es) you plan to test
the theory you plan to use to explain the issues
and a preliminary bibliography (books, articles and any other relevant sources) you plan to
use for the research paper..
Clearly, the research proposal is not a shopping list of headings and sub-headings. It is advisable to
do a preliminary investigation of issues about the topic before writing the research paper proposal.
The due date for the research paper proposal is Monday, March 31 [in class]
Research Paper:
The research paper must contain the same components as the research proposal, namely the paper
title, table of contents that must also be reflected in the organization of the research paper,
the body of the paper organized by clearly identifiable sections, footnotes or endnotes and
bibliography. Endnotes come at the end of the paper before or after the bibliography;
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footnotes are placed at the end of each page. Endnotes and footnotes are numbered
sequentially. Bibliographical entries must conform to the method set forth in the "Style
Manual" you use.
DUE DATE FOR RESEARCH PAPER: MAY 7
PLAGIARISM:
Do not plagiarize! Plagiarism is a very serious offense. It is the “act of using another person’s ideas
or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source…,” thereby fostering the
misleading “impression that you have thought something that you have in fact borrowed from
another” (Bucknell Faculty Adviser handbook, Bucknell University, August 1998, p. 7). My policy is
to report acts of plagiarism to the appropriate Bucknell University authorities.
Required Texts:
Beate Jahn, The Cultural Construction of International Relations: The Invention of the State
of Nature. New York: Palgrave, 2000.
Kenan Malik, The Meaning of Race: Race, History and Culture in Western Society. New
York: New York University Press, 1996.
Frank Furedi, The Silent War: Imperialism and the Changing Perception of Race. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998.
Films:
The class will watch/analyze three films, including documentaries. The first film is a Hollywood
feature film, THE MISSION, which deals with issues of colonialism and European intrigue in South
America, with attention to human nature, human rights, slavery, labor procurement strategies and
other matters. The second film is a documentary, BITTER CANE, which deals with Haiti-U.S.
Relations in the early twentieth century. The third film is a documentary by Stuart Hall about race. It
is called “RACE: THE FLOATING SIGNIFIER.
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COURSE TOPICS
I. SETTING THE CONTEXT: INTERNATIONAL THEORY, CULTURE, NATURE, AND
SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
January 20
Readings:
Beate Jahn, The Cultural Construction of International Relations: The Invention of the State of
Nature, pp. xi-xvii (Introduction), chapter 1, pp. 1-33
January 27
II. HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE STATE OF NATURE: IMPLICATIONS FOR
RACE AND CULTURE
Readings:
Beate Jahn, chapters 2-4
February 3
III. THE STATE OF NATURE, CLASSICAL POLITICAL THEORY AND EUROPEAN
THOUGHT
Readings:
Beate Jahn, chapters 5-6
FILM: The Mission (Warner brothers; color, 125 minutes, 1986).
A Hollywood feature film about Spanish, Portuguese and Papal imperialism and intrigue in South
America in the 18th century, with attention to issues of religious, philosophical, and theoretical
conceptions of human nature, human rights, etc.
February 10
IV. NATURE, CULTURE AND RACE IN EUROPE (FRENCH) and AMERICA (AMERICAN)
REVOLUTION
Readings:
Beate Jahn, chapter7
Emmanuel Eze, Achieving our Humanity, London & New York: Routledge, 2001, chapter 3 (Race,
A Transcendental?).
Kenan Malik, The Meaning of Race: Race, History and Culture in Western Society, chapter 2 (The
Social Limits of Equality).
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February 17
V. CLEARING THE EARTH FOR
NATURE/CULTURE DICHOTOMY
PROGRESS:
INSITUTIONALIZING
THE
Readings:
Kenan Malik, chapters 3 & 5.
Sven Lindquist, Exterminate all the brutes, pp. 97-107, 108-120, 121-141. [handout]
………………… FIRST PAPER DUE FEBRUARY 17 IN CLASS ……………
February 24
VI. SCIENTIFIC RACISM: BIOLOGY AND CULTURE AND IMPERIALISM
Readings:
Kenan Malik, chapters 4 & 6
David Theo Goldberg, chapter 5 (Racial States) [handout]
March 3
VII. IMPERIALISM, RACE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Readings:
Brian Schmidt, The Political Discourse of Anarchy: a disciplinary history of international relations.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998, chapter on “Anarchy within: Colonial
Administration” [handout].
Sven Lindquist pp. 142-160 [handout]
March 17
VIII. MANIFEST DESTINY, RACE, THE JEFFERSONIAN ‘EMPIRE OF LIBERTY’:
MYTHICAL ANGLO=SAXONISM & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Readings
Reginald Horsman, Race and Manifest Destiny, Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1981, chapters
1 (Liberty and the Anglo-Saxons), chapter 2 (Aryans follow the Sun), chapter 14 (Expansion and
World Mission) [handout]
Eric Foner, Who Owns History: Rethinking the Past in a changing World, New York: Hill and
Wang, 2002 chapter 3 (American Freedom in a Changing Age) [handout].
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March 24
IX. TWENTIETH CENTURY ANTI-IMPERIALISM,
RECONFIGURATION OF RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS
NATIONALISM
AND
THE
Readings:
Frank Furedi, The Silent War: Imperialism and the Changing Perception of Race: New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998, chapters 1-2.
Richard Wright, The Color Curtain, Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1994, chapter to be
selected for handout.
………… SECOND PAPER DUE MARCH 24 IN CLASS…………
Documentary Film: Bitter Cane (Cinema Guild, 75 minutes/color, 1983). One of the finest
documentaries ever made; uses clandestine footage; winner of many awards [MARCH 24].
March 31
X. WORLD WAR II, RACE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Readings:
Kenan Malik, chapter 1
Frank Furedi chapters 4 & 7
…………… RESEARCH PAPER PROPOSAL DUE MARCH 31 …………
April 7
XI. POSTWAR ANTI-IMPERIALISM, DECOLONIZATION AND RACIAL PRAGMATISM
Readings:
Frank Furedi, chapters 3 & 6
April 14
XII. RACE, CULTURE, CITIZENSHIP AND CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZATION
Readings:
Kenan Malik, The Meaning of Race, chapter 7 (Cultural Wars)
Mark Rupert, Ideologies of Globalization: Contending Visions of a New World Order, New York:
Routledge, chapter 5 (Fear and Loathing in the New World Order).
Jessie Daniels, White Lies: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in White Supremacist Discourse, New
York: Routledge, 1997, chapter 2 (White Supremacist Movements in a White Supremacist Context),
chapter 3 (Visions of Masculinity, Glimpses of Femininity: White Men and White Women).
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April 21
XIII. LIBERALISM AND THE PERSISTENCE OF RACE IN CONTEMPORARY
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Hilbourne A. Watson “Theorizing the Racialization of Global Politics and the Caribbean
Experience” in Alternatives, Vol. 26 No. 4, October-December 2001, pp. 449-484.
Liz Fekette, "Popular Racism in Corporate Europe" in Race & Class, 40, 2/3, 1998-99: 187-199
[handout]
Suvendrini Perera, "The Level Playing Field: Hansonism, Globalization, Racism" in Race & Class,
40, 2/3, 1998-99: 199-207 [handout]
April 28
Film: Documentary – ‘Race: The Floating Signifier’ (Stuart Hall).
Robert Vitalis, “The Graceful and Generous Liberal Gesture: making racism invisible in American
International Relations” in Millennium Vol. 29 No 2, 2000, pp.
……………
RESEARCH
PAPER
DUE
MAY
7
……………
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Sven Lindquist, Exterminate all the Brutes, pp. 97-107 (Cuvier’s Discoveries),
pp. 108-120 (To Agadez), pp. 121-141 (The Birth of Racism), pp. 142-160
(Lebensraum, Todesraum).
Emmanuel Eze, Achieving our Humanity, London and New York: Routledge,
2001, chapter 3 “Race, A Transcendental?”
Mark Rupert, Ideologies of Globalization: Contending Visions of a New
World Order. Routledge: New York & London, 2000, chapter 5, “Fear and
Loathing in the New World Order”
Jessie Daniels, White Lies: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in White
Supremacist Discourse, Routledge 1997, chapters 2 and 3.
David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, Blackwell Publishers, 2002, chapter
5 (Racial States).
Brian Schmidt’s A Disciplinary History of International Relations, chapter on
“Anarchy within: Colonial Administration.”
Kate Baldwin, Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain, Durham, NC:
Duke University Press 2002, chapter 1 “Not All God’s White People: McKay
and the Negro in Red” and chapter 4 “Black Shadows Across the Iron
Curtain.”
Richard Wright, (1994) The Color Curtain, foreword by Armpit Singh.
Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1994, chapter
Robert Vitalis, "The Graceful and Generous Liberal Gesture: Making
Racism Invisible in American International Relations" in Millennium:
Journal of International Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2000
Catherine Hall, Cultures of Empire: Colonizers in Britain and Empire in the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, chapter by Nancy Leys Stepan “Race,
Gender, Science and Citizenship”
Reginald Horsman, Race and Manifest Destiny, Harvard University Press
1981, chapter 1 (Liberty and the Anglo-Saxons), chapter, 2 (Aryans Follow
the Sun), chapter 14 (Expansion and World Mission).
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