Racial Formation Theory Articles In your summary, consider all of the following questions, making sure to use “a, b, c”, format so other readers can easily see how you answered them:  a. What is

69 10 Racial Formation MICH AEL OMI AND HOWARD WI NAN T The (O IlCC pt of ra c ia l fo rm atio n , jt rst de vel oped h y O l11i and IF illallt, has hc­ (O II/C cen t ral to t he socio !o.SZi c,1! s tud» (!f racc, It 1'(:(£'1'.1' to the so cial and h ist orical proces ses hy l/'hi (1I .« ro llps com e to be de fill ed ill rac ia l tcnn s and it spa ifi call)' lo cates those / )/'o(css es ill state- bas e d in stitu tions , such as the la iu . 19 82- 8 3, S usie Guill ory P hip p s unsu cc ess fully su e d the l ouis ia n a Bure au of I n V ita lR eco rd s to ch an g e her ra cia l classi ficat io n fro m b lack to wh ite , T he de­ sc en d a nt of an l Sth-cc utu r v w h ite pla nter and a bla ck slav e, Phi p ps w as desig­ lute d "b lac k" in her bi rth ce rt ific ate in acco rd an ce with a J97() sta te law w h ic h d ecl ared a nyone w it h at le ast 113 2n d " Neg ro blood " to b e bla ck , T he Phi pps case rais e d in tr ig u in g questio ns a bo ut th e co nc ep t of rac e , i t s m ean in g in c o nte m p orary so ci ety . a nd its use (a n d a buse ) in pub l ic pol i cy A ssista nt Atto rn e y Ge nera l R on D av is defen ded the la w by po int ing ou t tha t s o m e ty pe of r acial classi fica tio n was necessa ry to co m ply wit h fed era l re co rd ­ k ee p ing req u ir em ent s am ! to tlC ili ta te prog r ams f or the pre v ent ion o f gen etic d ise ase s. Phi p p s's att o rne y, Brian Beg ue, arg ue d th at th e ass ig nm en t of ra c ia l ca re ­ gories on b irt h ce rt ifica tes was un co nstit u tio n al an d th at th e ] 132 m !

d esig n ati o n w as in ac curat e. He ca ll ed on a re t ire d Tula ne Uni ver sity pro fess o r who cit ed re ­ se arc h i ndicati ng th at 1II0 st lo ui sian aw hite shav e at lea st 1 /2 Cith " Neg ro" an ces try , I n the e nd , Phip ps los t. Th e co u rt up h el d the sta te 's ri ght to cla ss ify an d q u an tity ra ci al id en tity " . .

Ph ip p s's pro b lema t ic r acia l id e n tit y, an d her effo rt to res ol ve it t hroug h s tat e a ct ion, is in m an y ways a parable o f A m eri ca 's unsol ved r aci al dile mm a . It illu stra tes th e di ffi cu lt i e s of d efi n i ng ra ce an d a ss ig n in g ind iv idu als or gro ups to r ac ia l ca te g o rie s. It sh ow s ho w th e ra cia l le gac ie s of th e past- slav ery an d b ig­ 71 7 0 PAR T II THE SOCI AL CON ST R U CT IO N OF R ACE AN D ETH N I CIT Y been po sed ofte n , an d wit h grea t er freq u en cy in re ce nt ye ars ... . An affi rm a tiv e a nswe r w ould of c our se present obvi ou s practi c a l diffi culties: it is ra t he r diffi cul t t o je tt i s on wide ly hel d bel ie fs , beli efs w h ich m ore o v e r are ce n t ra l to ev ery o ne's i d e ntity and u n d ersta nd in g o f th e so cia l w orld . So the atte m pt to b ani sh th e con ­ c e pt as' a n arc haism is at bes t co unt eri nt uit iv e. l3 ut a deep er difficu lry, w e beli ev e, i s in h er e n t i n t he very fo rmul atio n of t his sc h em a. in i ts way o f po sin g rac e as a probl elll , a mis co nce ptio n le ft ov er fr o m th e pa st , an d su i tab le no w on ly for th e d us tbi n of hist ory .

A more ef fec tive sta rtin g po int is th e re c o gn i ti o n that, desp it e it s 1 1l1Cer­ t a in ries an d co ntrad ic tio ns, th e co nc ept of ra c e co ntin ues to pla y a fim d am en ra l rol e in st ru ctu ri ng an d re p re s ent in g th e soc ia l w orld. T he ta sk f o r t he ory is to exp la in thi s sit u atio n . It i s to av o id b oth the uto p ia n f ram e w ork whic h sees rac e as an i llusio n we can so m e how "get be yo nd ," an d also th e esse n ti alis t f or­ m ulat i on whic h sees ra ce as so m eth in g obj ect i v e and fi xed, a bio lo gica l da tum. .T hu s we sh o uld t h in k of ra ce as an el ement of so c i al st r uctu r e r ath er th an as an i r r e g ula r ity w ithin it: we s h o uld se e ra c e as a dim en si on of hum an repres ent ati on r ath er th an an ill u sio n .

Th ese pe rs p e cti ve s info rm th e th eor e ti c al ap pro a ch we c a ll ra cia l fo rm atio n . Racial F o rma ti o n W e defi n e racialjonnat ion as th e soc io hisro r ica l pro c e ss by w hic h ra ci al cat egori esare c re at ed, inhabi ted , t ran sfo rm ed , and d estro yed . O ur at tem pt to elab o r ate a t heo ry o f rac ia l form at ion w ill pro ce e d i n t wo ste p s. Fir st, w e arg ue t hat r ac ial fo rma tion is a pro c e ss of hi stor ic a ll y sit uate d proj ect s in whi ch hum a n b od ie s and socia l st ru c­ tu resar e re p r ese n te d and o rgan ized. N ex t w eli nk ra ci al f orm atio n to th e ev olu t io n 72 PA RT II TH E SO C I AL CONS TRUC T I ON O F RACE AN D ETHNI CIT Y To be s ure , suc h po liti cal la b el s as " neo conse rva t ive " or "lib era l" ca n n o t f ull y cap ture the c o m ple x ity of ra cia l pro je ct s, f or the se are a lw ay s mul tipl y de­ r erm ined, p oliti cally conteste d , an d d e eply sh ap ed by th ei r h ist or i cal c o n t ex t, T hus enca p su lat ed w ithin the neo con serv a tive ex am p le c it ed he re a re ce rtain cga l­ ir arian comm itm ent s whic h deri ve fr om a pre v iou s his to ri cal co ntex t i n whic h t hey p la yed a very diffe re nt role , an d wh ich are re a rt ic ul nrcd in ne oco nser va tive rac ial di sco u rse pre cise ly t o o ppose a m ore ope n - end ed , m ore ca p acio us co n cept io n of the m e anin g of eq u a lity. Sim ilarly, i n th e lib er al exa m p le. Ju stice Ma rs h all r eco g ­ ni zes tha t t he c o ntem po ra ry s ta te, w hic h was f onn c r lv th e ar ch ite c t of se g reg at io n a n d th e ch id e n fo rcer of ra cia l di tti:re nce , has a ten d en cy to re prod uce tho s e pat ­ te rns of in eq ualit y in a ne w g u ise . Th u s he a dm onis hes it (in d iss en t , sign ifi ca n tl y) t o fu lfill it s res p o n sib ilit i e s to uph o ld a rob u st c once p tio n of eq ua lity . These part ic­ ul ar in sta nce s , th en. dem o nstrat e ho w ra c ia l pro ject s are alw a ys co ncre te ly fr am ed , an d thu s arc a lways c ont este d an d unst able . T h e s ocia l struc t ures th ey uph ol d or atta ck . an d t he re p re sentat ions of race they art icula te. a re nev er in ve n ted out of the air , bu t exist in ;1 d efi n ite hist orica l co n te x t, havin g des c end ed fr om pr e v io us c o n flic t s. Thi s co n te st at io n ap pears to b e pe rm anen t in respec t to ra ce .

T he se tw o ex am ple s of co nte m po ra ry raci al proj ects arc d raw n l ro m main ­ s tre am po lit ical deb at e; th ey may be ch aract eri ze d as ce nre r- rig h r and ccnrcr- lcfi ex pressi on s of co llt cm p o r:lIY rac ial po lit i cs. . .. W e ca n , ho w e ve r , e xpa n d th e dis­ c us si on of ra c ial form ati on proc ess es elr bey o n d the se f: un ilia r exam ple s. In t ;lCt, we c a n iden t it y ra c ia l pro je cts in at lea st thr e e oth er an alyt ica l dim en sions: firs t, th e po li t ica l spec trum ca n be bro ad en ed to includ e r adic al pro j e c ts, on both th e left a n d ri ght , as wel l as a lo ng oth e r p oliti cal ax es. Se cond , ana l ysis of ra cia l pro je c t' Gill t ak e p lan ; no t on ly at the m ac ro -le vel of r aci al poli cy -m ak ing, s ta te activ it y , a n d co llec t iv e ac ti on , but a ls o at th e mic ro -le v e l of eve ryday experien ce . T hi rd , t h e co nc ept of r acial pro jec ts can be ap p li ed acro ss histo ri cal tim e, to iden tif y ra c ia l fo rma tion dy n a m i cs in t he past . DISCUS SION QUESTIONS