“Racial Formation”: The Cultural
Interaction of Racism, Space, and
Language
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ANTH 351: CROSS CULTURAL DYNAMICS
A P R I L 2 ND, 2 0 1 5
Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. 1994. Racial Formation in the United States. 2nd Ed. New York: Routledge.
From: Prof. Ralina Joseph at U of Washington
Ethnicity and Race
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 Race: A human population category whose
boundaries allegedly correspond to distinct sets of
biological attributes
 Racialism: Belief in the existence of biologically
distinct races
Race as hierarchy: Racism
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 Racism: A system of oppression by which one
socially defined “race” is systematically and
disproportionally advantaged over another (or other)
socially defined “race” (or races).

(Often justified by reference to supposed biological or cultural
superiority)
Race
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 Race is a social construction which alters over
the course of time due to historical and social
pressures.

 Race is an organizing principle
 Race isn’t essence, it’s “an unstable and
‘decentered’ complex of social meanings
constantly being transformed by political
struggle” (Omi & Winant, 68)
Race
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 Omi and Winant's definition of race throws out ideas
that race is 1) a biological fact and 2) an illusion.
 Instead: race very real social classification that both
has cultural ramifications and enforces a definite
social order (54-55).

Examples of Ozawa vs. United States (1923) & United States
vs. Thind (1923)

Ramifications
Racial Formation
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 Racial formation is the process by which socio-
historical designations of race are created and
manipulated.
 Racial formation explains the definition and
redefinition of specific race identities.
 Two levels of racial formation: macro (social
structure and political projects launched both by and
in opposition to the racial state, such as a court
decision) and micro (every day experiences,
including language-use)
Racial Formation & Racialization
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 The notion of Racial Formation “emphasizes the social
nature of race, the absence of any essential racial
characteristics, the historical flexibility of racial
meanings and categories, the conflictual character of
race at both the ‘micro’ and ‘macro-social’ levels, and
the irreducible political aspect of racial dynamics” (4)
 Racial Formation is the “process by which social,
economic and political forces determine the content
and importance of racial categories, and by which they
are in turn shaped by racial meanings” (61)
 Racialization (the process of racial formation) means
“the extension of racial meaning to a previously
racially unclassified relationship, social
practice or group” – an ideological and historically
specific project where racial ideology comes from preexisting conceptual elements
Cultural Practices: Language Use & Racial Formation
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 Implications of “racial formation” approach for an
understanding of cultural-practices like languageuse:




“race” (and one could say gender, class, etc.) are partially
constructed people’s own uses of speech in order to construct
their own identities
but also through people’s (and institutions’) uses of
speech/language to construct the identities of others.
This is key. None of us can fully determine our own “race” or
“gender” or “class” or “ethnic” identity.
Language constitutes not just social interaction but also social
groups through the linguistic practices of social interaction
(i.e., cultural practices)
Language as a Cultural Resource
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 So, how does language work in culture?
 Through signs—things that can be interpreted as
having a meaning
 Sign: Signifier and Signified (deSaussure) or Sign,
Object, and Interpretant (Peirce)
 Three kinds of signs (Peirce):



Symbol: arbitrary relationship between signifier & signified
Icon: relationship of resemblance between signifier & signified
Index: existential relationship—spatial, contextual, etc.—
between signifier & signified (cultural context v. imp here)
 Hill is talking about indexes (or indices?)
Clips and sites for references in Hill article
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 SNL skit with Jimmy Smits as Antionio Mendoza—clip (Season 16, Episode
2): http://youtu.be/FGjty394oyw
 SNL skit with Jimmy Smits—transcript:
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90enews.phtml
 Terminator 2: “No Problemo” & “Hasta La Vista Baby”:
http://youtu.be/D_7vVOnpyJY
 Final “Hasta La Vista, Baby”: http://youtu.be/LRxaXmXvjnU
 Final “Goodbye”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMnWNtRGo2k or
fuller https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=114386601954413,
from 00:50-4:35.
Reclaiming a Language
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 Can a marginalized group reclaim a language and
subvert existing power structures through language?
 http://public.oed.com/aspects-of-english/englishin-use/cockney/