09-12-2014
MA at UCL
We would like to thank everyone for the thoughtful and detailed feedback on the various projects and campaigns #DTMH have presented so far. We have been particularly pleased with the overwhelming response to our proposed MA programme, both positive and constructive criticism. Drawing on this feedback, we have reformulated our ideas. Please see our brief summary of the MA programme we hope to work towards for 2016.
Please do, as always, share your thoughts.
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An MA in White Power at UCL looks amazing. I hoping the first years MA in White Power is done to understand the system and then next year you start an MA in Black Power to analyze how you dismantle it.
Dismantle black power? Yes, it is necessary to remove the beligerent ignorant Left and actually consider equality as the basis of society but such sensibility isn’t something the Left – or racist black people – really like.
This proposal seems to be tackling exactly what is lacking in our education system; a demand for a critical look at the dominate forces that rule our lives. Within an era of ever growing access to information, but somewhat decreasing knowledge, the practical aspects of such a course could lead to the most radical changes. The idea of Core Module Two: Racism’s Administrative Capital, is especially inspiring if the discussions of “how White Power might be dismantled” are not only sparked but given support to be transformed into actions. A very exciting proposal.
Hi
This sounds like an amazing proposal, but I feel that the requirement to work with an outside organization on a practical project could potentially be limiting. For one thing, it makes that outside organization party to an academic exercise in a way that could affect the kind of work that gets done for and within that organization. For another, it could potentially be an obstacle to people who would otherwise want to engage with this project, if they don’t have the connections to partner with a suitable organization for instance. I understand and support the drive to keep academic study connected with practical work, but I’d like to know what kind of partner organizations and what kind of projects you had in mind for this part of the proposal, and how you expect those organizations’ involvement with the degree programme to benefit them as well as students. Regardless though, I think this would be the most worthwhile thing to happen to academia in London pretty much ever.
How about the option to produce some assessable pieces across the year through forms other than writing? e.g photography, film, spoken word, music? Especially given how powerful these can be in triggering deconstruction of even quite solid assumptions that are built up in people’s minds. Also means the MA would cater for multiple learning styles (including people who haven’t gone to schools/universities where they get the best training to write in a certain academic way). If it’s only at some points in the programme, the focus is still on students getting the tools to challenge the academy from within, in its present form. But at the same time, the programme itself becomes a step in decolonising what is seen as valid ‘high-level’ knowledge by connecting different forms of knowledge production in the same environment and allowing cross-pollination. Given that students who adopt written options would have access to academics/peers that they can throw ideas around and be supported by in the programme, students choosing other forms of assessment would need access to mentors in those forms. Then it also becomes more tricky in terms of how you assess, given that non-homogenous tasks are set, but could be worth thinking about…
‘How about the option to produce some assessable pieces across the year through forms other than writing? e.g photography, film, spoken word, music?’
Great idea Anna. We wouldn’t have to work so hard then..
This sounds excellent, exciting and absolutely necessary. Only thing that I might change would be the name. It makes sense but I have an immediate aversion/repulsion to the phrase ‘White Power’. Perhaps that’s more of a personal issue though.
I think you’re correct, Tia, for several reasons. First is the valid reason you mentioned. No, it isn’t a personal issue with you! Your sentiments are shared by many!
Next is the risk that this program will be perceived as parody, because it seems absurd to get an MA in learning how to more effectively assert “white power”. Such a misapprehension is quite plausible.
Finally, I don’t believe it is a university’s role to foment race wars nor to redefine ethnicity. “Critical White Studies” is descriptive of the proposed curriculum without any ambiguity of intent. I felt sad after reading one of the comments expressing an interest in “an MA in White Power to understand the system and then next year you start an MA in Black Power to analyze how you dismantle it”. White Power versus Black Power? What is Black Power? What of Asians, indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australia etc.? Are we all in a power struggle for racial supremacy and domination of others? I hope not.
Many congratulations to UCL on launching this much-needed course. It represents a major step in understanding how whiteness pervades local and global power hierarchies, historically and in the present, and the role of knowledge production in our universities in maintaining this dominance. I hope other universities will learn from your example. They can no longer claim to be global and relevant without acknowledging the relationship between racialization and their hegemony.
This looks incredible. Such an important addition to the British academic scene, which seems to be becoming even less race-conscious with all of this Research Excellence stuff. I would be interested in hearing more about the proposal. I have a couple of critical comments.
Perhaps you could explain a bit more to the reader why you put the term ‘race’ under erasure. Isn’t that a debated issue in itself, whether to put the term in square quotes or not? In terms of the structure of the degree, engaging with the world outside academia sounds like an incredible idea. Though perhaps you could give some examples of the kinds of organisations that people would work with? Or can it be any? Finally, I am a bit unsure about the name. Wouldn’t critical white studies be more appropriate, or something else that makes the title obviously more critical and identify its object more clearly?
Other than that, I am really excited about this and can’t wait to see how it pans out!
The modules looks awesome! I will definitely go for this… and on another note- please add portions from decolonial studies – important in understanding coloniality, race and modernity etc
neat idea, and probably a good money spinner.
Action research in dissolving UCL’s white supremacist impact.
You might want to consider making “race” a central pillar in the image on the first page rather than merely discretely represented together with “caste”
Personally, I’m not a fan of crossing out race or putting the term in quotation marks, although I understand that it is a social construct used and developed to oppress. There is a general tendency in European politics today to avoid references to race as itself encouraging racism and beliefs in a fiction. Race is being buried, but buried alive, as David Goldberg has put it. We need to counter this tendency and address issues of race unapologetically.
There is no mention of colonialism on the website (although there is some mention of Imperialism)! Colonialism–which in many ways is ungoing!–is critical to understanding racism etc today.
Have you considered maybe creating an international network around your project (maybe with an international website)? I think you should, if not now, in the future! Your project strikes me as fresh and progressive in that it is not a call for “Black Studies” or to add some diversity to existing curriculums (which have been important and honourable initiatives), but to put curriculums and universities in their entirety into question from an intersectional and critical race perspective. This has the potential of developing into an international movement in higher education (and I know there are other related projects in higher education internationally such as this one at Kalamazoo College in the US: http://www.kzoo.edu/academics/index.php?p=curriculum).
Congratulations on putting together this fascinating and timely course. It is unfortunate that in order to collapse racialised hierarchies, we must first reify ‘race’ by making whiteness visible as an unjustifiable privilege. But this and other ironies seem to be approached in a nuanced and expert way, in the paragraphs above. Please do share the core curriculum readings as the course evolves and I (and other academics surely) will add them to my own lexicon of decolonising, emancipatory works. Best wishes!!
If only a course like this was available when I was applying for masters!
this might be the craziest thing I’ve seen in years.
Is this a Monty Python site?
Do you realise how utterly absurd and comical this course looks to people who live outside the daft PC bubble you lot inhabit?
[…] Maar het is bloedserieus. The University College Londen heeft sinds kort een MA (Magister Artium) opleiding in ‘White Power’. Althans, u kunt daar leren om ‘de blanke dominantie te […]
What a load of bollocks.
This initiative is so important for challenging the discourse around racialized power structures; however, I am a bit weary of the tendency of a-materialist approaches to fall into liberal arguments. How many movements were initiated by PoC demanding democracy or equality within a political context, but disregard the very material nature of white power. Though I think a module on administrative capital is important, it is equally important to acknowledge the economic side in the political economy of power.
Also, as pointed out by others, historical linages of power are very important, particularly with the changing modes of governance. Understanding the colonial history of the initial spread of capitalism becomes important in deconstructing power. It also makes it easier to understand why power structures are ordered differently in societies between the global north and global south.
One other issue of importance that I wish was more pronounced is the role of law in mitigating the visibility of race as a category of analysis in society. In many countries, you now have “laws” that try to address racial inequality. Critical legal studies would be very useful in understanding how power is harnessed and also how hegemony is achieved.
I personally would love to see how this goes. If only it was more affordable for those of us coming from the global south, who cant afford UCL tuition. If we keep in mind that the project aims to change discourse, perhaps making the material more accessible would be a good idea….Online forums, maybe posting the more critical lectures online, or at least posting the syllabi online… I don’t know how possible that is because it is UCL… but it seems almost ironic to have a course about my own subordination to which I am at an economic disadvantage to attend….
what a load of old arse!
Some of the negative comments, particularly this one, remind me of drapetomania.
Sorry. Can’t stop laughing. Nice one.
Oh. You’re serious. My bad.
If you ever want to wonder why people are distrustful of ivory tower academics, then look no further than this course.
If you look at the sub Saharan African empire Mutapa c1430 to 1760, Africans too believed in imperialism and colonialism. It just seems that European colonialism and imperialism was just more effective.
While there were policies that were shameful (but righted in the 19th century) like the Slave Trade, British colonialism nevertheless spread free trade and democracy and its rule was relatively benign. Britain’s colonial past and the current Commonwealth organisation suggests that we were not that resented.
When Britain in the 19th century was the world’s only superpower, from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (started by the French) in 1815 to the outbreak of WW1 started by the Austrians and Germans in 1914 Europe enjoyed mainly peace. When Britain could have waged mass industrial war, instead we saw nearly a century of relative quiet, great industrial, medical and scientific advances.
This course is no more than American West and East Coast “liberal” anti intellectual masturbation.
I love how you criticise “Ivory Tower Academics” and then don’t refer to any grass roots struggles in your criticism. While people across the US and Western Europe fill the streets shouting “black lives matter”, this kind of programme is timely.
There is nothing liberal, or PC about this programme. Calling out White Power is neither of those things. If you had any connection to the communities oppressed by such an ideology, you would not post such an ignorant criticism.
@Barry
As someone who has lived in multiethnic East London for 30 years I do.
As someone who did do a “check your privilege” test I scored a low 34%, as I do not have much formal education and have a blue collar/working class background.
If you look at “Black privilege” in Zimbabwe and South Africa, when the roles are reversed, it is far more pernicious. Two wrongs do not make a right but in America and Britain Africans are treated more than reasonably well.
I work in recruitment and a UK client asked me to find someone to work in New York and I was astonished on LinkedIn where people post their photos how many skilled computer people were African-Americans and Latinos, about 25%-33%.
I have no time for bed wetters and guilty liberals.
Couldn’t agree more with all of Michael McEachrane’s points!
Someone had to try and civilize the world. Pre-British colonialism, the world was full of autocratic despotisms that presided over mass poverty and oppression. This idiotic, unhistorical view that the world’s problems were caused by colonialism is erroneous; colonialism was an attempt to solve these problems and spread civilization to the far corners of the planet. As the great George McDonald Fraser put it, British colonialism was ‘the greatest gift given to an undeserving world.’
You are a bunch of naïve pc wankers. Put this in you course and analyse why it was not an international story like sanctified Mike Brown. http://murderpedia.org/female.N/n/nelson-mona.htm
There is far too much of studies on being black, blackness, black masculinity, black feminism etc in comparison to being white, whiteness, white masculinity etc. White academicians have done a great deal of work on defining, classifying, categorizing, analyzing the problems of black without being self-reflexive and there by adding white dominated narratives. Its high time White Studies are critically understood and analysed to add diversity to the ideas of power, privilege and equality.
This course is truly revolutionary in terms of cutting to the heart of how modern unjust systems of power continue to be built on racial hierarchies that keep white power invisible and visible at the same time. This is an important development within the British Academic landscape. As someone interested in the imperial role of British cities outside of London, I would like to suggest that more attention be given to how imperialist and colonialist ideas were manufactured literally and epistemologically in British cities such as Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and Aberdeen, for example. British imperialism, as you well know, was not a London project. It is therefore critically important that a London centric focus (itself an imperialist function) be offset with some attention to cities and regions who were crucial to oiling the machinery of white British colonial power.
If you want to do more than theorize the oppressive character of ‘white power’ (i.e. do something that might be of some substantive political value), I hope you’ve thought of including the following topics in the curriculum:
(1) The history of attempts to penetrate the race-based power relations through persuasion – i.e. where non-whites persuade whites to share or cede power.
(2) The role of race hybridization in mitigating, if not eliminating, white privilege – both in theory and practice (I’m thinking especially of Latin America).
(3) The use of violence to overturn what is seen as biologically based reproductions of power – lessons from the past that may be applied today.
This is a fascinating and fantastic initiative. Well done Nathaniel and colleagues for getting it up and running. The analysis of White Power – and specifically in London – marks a new venture in the field of ‘race studies’. I wish it every success and look forward to hearing of the first graduates (and their work) from this course.
I couldn’t be more excited about this course. Although I share some of the concerns mentioned above (e.g. the name of the course, the need to include an angle on the political economy of white domination, continuities of colonialism today, etc.), the course seems very neat in and of itself.
I would also like to underline the previously mentioned suggestion to have a greater diversity of assessment built into the course. It is an imperative to turn universities into more open and creative spaces where various experiences and ambitions can be brought together and developed. A course which allows students to express their reactions to the material they are exposed to in various artistic forms (photography, drama, creative writing, etc.) means the course will have a greater societal impact than an intra-academic critique of white domination.
Linked to this is the great idea of built-in applied work through the organisation that students have to be involved in. I would suggest that alongside having students participate in existing organisations working against white domination and related oppression, students should also be given the opportunity/resources to start up their own organisations to work on the issues they feel aren’t currently being addressed. Furthermore, it would be an idea to think about how this course can facilitate students to organise such initiatives outside of London and beyond their studies; white domination is ravaging the world far beyond the M25.
Finally, I assume this will be addressed in the course content; but I feel there is a profound lack of critical study going into botched responses to white domination (or simply to racism) such as liberal colourblindness, multiculturalism, ‘rainbow nation’ optimism, etc.
Nonetheless, this is a great project. I’m looking forward to see it grow to fruition.
The course does look interesting, and I am very aware of the amount of hard work that has gone into the development of the MA. I have just one or two comments I would like to share; what is the purpose, and what I mean by this what is intended for students to do with this once they have completed the modules. I say because at one state there would have been roles as policy officers in terms of race etc, or is it just for interest. If this is the case how sustainable will the programme be will it last the duration ( whatever that looks like). The second point is what is the benefit for 1) the organisation if they partner with UCL and 2)the student ( I do like the concept), will there be cross disciplinary delivery to ensure that it reaches a range of people?
Dear Sir/Madam
I would be interested but only if there is a possibility to do this online or with partial attendance. I live in the continent and I work full time but I would very much like make the effort to be in seminars and online lectures. Please let me know.
Kind regards
Paz
To me, the negative comments precisely point out the need for a program like this. How can it be that white hegemony is still so unknown to many people while even more people are suffering because of it? I’d like to second Rajesh in his opinion that it’s high time that this topic is talked about in the university. I’d love to apply for this program, because I’ve been struggling with the question on how not to be compliant with racial power structures, being a white woman myself.
This is England, the ancestral land of the English people. We have not consented to be colonised by African and Asian populations. They have been coerced upon us by the political class and the interests it serves, while hateful people of all colours have striven to dehumanise our natural and righteous dissent. Morality always rests with the victim in a conflict such as this, and we English ARE the victim. If we had power we would exercise it to defend our existence, and remove the colonising aliens from our land. That is our true will, and it can never be morally inadmissable in any way. Life is the ultimate human interest, and the life of any native people, wven white ones, is always the ultimate cause on its own soil.
@Lisa ‘White hegemony’ is a load of bollocks. People from non-white minorities in Western countries are now treated very decently and respectfully. Try going to Japan and start lecturing them on Japanese hegemony and see where that gets you. All we can do is strive for equality of opportunity, an area in which we have had significant success. All this talk of ‘dismantling white power’ is discriminatory nonsense . If minorities are under-represented in education, government, executive positions, etc., it is up to those communities to examine themselves and pull their socks up, not look for someone else to blame.
White hegemony in europe. ooh, how interesting.
It seems clear that this is not study, that is about learning some actual knowledge, as it is about endoctrination and political edification.
Now, completely independently of the quality program, I doubt those folks would have studied anything important anyway.
Let’s just hope those rich kids are blowing their own money on it.
As someone involved in the hiring of lots of people, usually with Masters, I have to say I’d be wary of employing anyone with this qualification. Use of real evidence and data isn’t mentioned, and it seems to be teaching the exact opposite of critical thinking and analysis: “here is a far-fetched conspiracy theory – now you recite it right back to me for your Distinction”.
What happens to the student who genuinely concludes that racism isn’t say, a big issue in the US criminal justice system and backed it up with figures showing that arrest rates by race match the reports of the victims on what the perpretrator looked like? We all know they’d get marked down.
I’d advise all would-be students of this course – perhaps especially those who wish to combat racism – to pick another course.
I think that this course is absolutely vital and I would be first to sign up.
I have both my BSc and my MFA from UCL and I can tell you first hand that there is a complete reticence to engage in this critical discussion within the institution. Those suggesting that there is nothing to learn from this course are naive to their own complicity in this struggle. Like it or not, we are all subject to some level of structural inequality, racial or otherwise, and dismantling these hierarchies from within seems to me to be a compelling way to move forward.
Acknowledging the problematic nature of the ‘Dismantling of the Master’s House’ from within the Master’s very own house is a stroke of genius in that it problematises the position of anyone involved with the course. The discussion could look at ideas of sociality and complicity within structures of ‘whiteness’ rather than solely perpetuating structures of ‘difference’. This could be an incredibly fruitful discussion.
Again, to the naysayers, I think that the point of this course is not to stick two fingers up at hegemony, in all honesty that is a largely untenable position. It seems to me to be about acknowledging and problematising structures of inequality from within, in this instance through the prism of race. Surely, this discussion is of great importance?
I am very excited about this, and I would definitely consider studying this after my BA in arts & humanities. However, there are some things I think should change.
1. The name
The website link calls it “(…)/ma-critical-white-studies/” – and I think ‘MA in Critical White Studies’ would be much better than ‘MA in White Power’. Saying that you’ve got an MA in White Power sounds ridiculous – not because I disagree with the idea of white supremacy, but because it sounds like you’ve mastered… white power?
2. The content
I think this masters should be broader, as some others have mentioned, so it leaves more creative possibilities for students. And perhaps the study should not be in combination with a sort of internship. Although I do think practical experience is crucial, I think it might be too much for a one-year masters program.
3. The focus
I’d love to see this MA with a focus on the world, or maybe Europe. As I said, I love the idea of this masters, but the focus on Britain discourages me. I think a more international focus would be more appropriate.
I’d love to hear more about this soon!
It’s nice to know that since Communism has been discredited that petty, envious losers still have something to talk about.
My mates in Stormfront are interested, but we’d really like to see more practice and less theory. Courses like Maintaining A Police State, Ethnic Cleansing for Fun And Profit, etc. That’s the problem with you eggheads. Great with the theory, but when it’s time to put the boot in, nowhere to be found.
After reading this I have to say I am very embarrassed to be a UCL alumnus, and thus associated with this shit.
A big problem I have with it is that you are attacking a particular cultural movement linked to and developed by a certain group of (mainly rich, upper-class) white people. You are then generalising it to include all white people by calling it ‘White Studies’ or ‘White Power’. You try and make it clear that the course content does not do that, yet the title of the course does exactly that. It’s probably not a good start to have to quickly explain away a highly provocative course title. My advice would be to have a big re-think about the name of the course.
Most importantly however, I think it is too ‘White European’ centrist. Every empire that has ever existed has sought to validate it’s expansion and slaughter by effectively dehumanising those it conquered. Racial distinction was a method often employed to do this. From the Mongols, to the Songhai, to the British, race has always played a big part in Imperialism. If you truly want to understand it, then it has to be from a global perspective. You seem to be focusing too little on the idea, and too much on the actors, as it were. Is this more akin to a history course, or a philosophical course? It’s not clear. Focusing on just White people is just playing into a limiting, politically correct, crass attitude that is really quite racist in itself, as you are ignoring literally every other empire in existence that happened to be outside of Europe.
Absolutely must congratulate UCL for finally accepting some responsibility for anti Black Racism, by offering an opportunity to study ‘how’ this damage was perpetrated and is being perpetuated; and perhaps how to put a stop to it–long overdue I’d day!!
No doubt the course can be improved as it develops; all courses should do; for example, the modules should be expanded or increased to include how Africa civilised the Orient and Europe, via Nile Valley and Central African Civilisations, and by its resources–including mineral wealth, raw materials and people.
UCL’s reparations for the role it played in the development of Eugenics/ Racism against peoples of African descent, should ultimately include creation of a more comprehensive and sustainable suite of courses, including an undergraduate degree, post graduate diplomas and a PhD, in how ancient Afrikan discovery of developmental sciences resulted in, or gave rise to European Civilisations–starting with ancient Ancient Greece and Imperial Rome. Nomenclature not a problem, just call it Afrika’s White Civilisations. Such courses must include review of the origins of Biblical Christianity. I hope that this MA degree investigates the removal of ‘art treasures’ from Nile Valley and Central Afrikan Civilisations, and the burning of books and other records of these Afrikan Civilisations by Arab and European conquerors/enslavers–inorder to obliterate evidence of the Black/Afrikan origins of Arab and European Civilisations.
What are you on about? Not sure how many people have the capital to take on an MA and then go straight the dole office?
My only criticism is that this course info needs to be more accessible to those unable to afford a full MA!
How about all you simpering whiners get off your a$$e$ and work a little harder to improve your lot instead of blaming ‘Ol Whitey’. Most of us out here do nothing more than work hard, pay our taxes and mind our own business. We personally never invaded anyone else country and never owned any slaves. We sit quietly, tolerating all the ‘race hate’ laws, and accusations of racism & bigotry while being told we have to ‘celebrate’ our new diversity.
Well, we don’t celebrate it, and we’re not going to be convinced by some smart mouth lefty with a bull$hit degree in ‘White power’.
And when said ‘bull$hit’ degree fails to get you the well paid position you no doubt think you’re ‘entitled’ to, I’m sure you’ll be happy to troop down to the dole office, paid for predominantly by ‘Ol whitey’!
I find such a concept racist and offensive. That one group uses skin colour as a differentiator is putrid.
The very concept is disgusting. The very idea of judging a group on their colour is racist. If the posters want to sit about playing bongo drums and singing kum by ah then by all means, but even the most bigoted, spoiled, hate-filled Left winger must admit that attendance and support for this course underpins everything the Left promote: intolerance, arrogance, cruelty, spite and entitlement.
Grow up, shut down this course and show some respect for those who gave you the ability to publish such evil.
A very interesting and highly prpgressive MA subject. In particular I find the blog, online journal and working closely with a case study organisation an engaging way to put the knowledge gained to good use. It keeps the theories firmly grounded in real life modern examples. I’ll be eagerly watching this page for developments. Any taster sessions/courses on offer??
Note that it is custumary for nay-sayers to imply that people who speak truth, will be ‘excluded’ in some way; e.g. by being denied unemployment. This is one of the characteristics of white domination. It excludes those who challenge it. However, there are atleast 70 African/Caribbean Countries whose education system are chomping at the bit to employ people with a degree (s) in “How to Dismantle his masters house”; in other words, how to assert the African Identity! One of the consequences of living on a plantation system, is that slaves are enthralled by the prospect of remaining there. They cannot conceive of/ or find it difficult/scary to conceive of moving away, to seek employment elsewhere. I am hoping that this UCL degree will trigger a process in which, not only will UK universities want to employ people skilled in deconstructing Whiteness and its ideologies, but that other European and Euro-American Universities will want to do the same. Nevertheless, to hell with the lot of them, if they do not wish to “reform or save” themselves. Africans must ply their trade in Africa and the Caribbean. As I said, there are atleast 70 African/Caribbean Countries with welcoming education and developmental systems, waiting to be emancipated.
Note too, that UCL may well be opening up a new market for these kinds of courses. My point is that rather than ‘closing off employment opportunities” UCL may well be opening up new avenues of employment. The African/Black World needs to breathe some fresh air. Methinks, so does everyone else. DTMH should be promoted as a new approach to decolonisation. First we need to decolonise the mind.
The idea of analysing the role of social identities in establishing and maintaining power through the British Empire seems to me long overdue. This programme looks very well designed as a way of leading the development this inquiry at this point. I’m particularly impressed by the way that engagement and impact strands are woven into the academic work itself.
Given its own role in the history this programme will study and its central location in our capital city, UCL is the perfect institution for establishing this inquiry. I very much hope your proposal is successful.
Please change the title of this course immediately. It is cringeworthy and inflamatory in a way which can only exclude white people, who may be in most need of learning about the philosophical and social construction of “whiteness”. I am concerned that the classroom in which this course takes place would not be a safe space for a white person. I also agree with the person who asked, what is a person supposed to do with such an MA? The title alone gives the impression that the holder is a white supremacist, or a “militant” black person. It is ridiculous! Change the title, to Critical Race Studies if you must, and pray the Daily Mail don’t get wind of this or your whole project and the good intentions behind them will ruin the image of black intellectuals everywhere, and then where will your support be?
This sounds like an amazing, and much-needed, MA course. It’s bold, innovative, and impressive. I would expect it to serve as a model for others. Fantastic!!
As philosophical work on race gathers momentum in the UK, this is a timely proposal, and one which will make a valuable contribution to the curriculum. It should also be important beyond academia, thanks to the innovative partnering of the academic work with external organizations. The one critical point I have is that the modules are described as having as their contact hours a series of lectures, whereas I wonder whether a seminar format might be more conducive to discursive engagement with these topics.
Overall, though, this proposal seems to be an exciting and much needed one, and I hope it is successfully incorporated into the program of teaching at UCL.
I think this is a very interesting and necessary MA! As it was requested to comment, I try to add some of my thoughts. In bullet points:
* What really attracts me personally is the module ” Western Philosophy and White Domination”. I would be specifically be interested in how the idea of ‘freedom’, the ‘individual’, ‘human’ and ‘humanity’, ‘community’, as well as the ‘North’ and the ‘South’ (and the First/Third world previously) came about and relate to race, whiteness and white domination. I assume that is what the Philosophy module is (partially) about? I think it would also be interesting to read that in an intersectional framework, i.e. how that relate to gender (private/public, care, reproduction), queer (who can be sexual? and for whom?), dis/abled and other perspectives on those terms/philosophical perspectives.
Also, please publish an edited book on this, I’d love to read it!
* Others also commented on this, but I think a link with international political economy and international relations (imperialism, capitalism and neoliberalism, colonialism) is crucial for the understanding of white domination. As, for instance, the role of the abolition of slavery in (for) the development of capitalism. Or how neoliberalism and consumer culture is globally relying on the financial exploitation and (child) labour of black and brown people. But also, for instance, what has race and white domination to do with the financial bank crisis, or with the rise in fees (to name current issues)?
* As a sociologist I am missing a bit the sociological perspective ;-). For instance, what about class, race and social mobility?. Or: what does power actually, conceptually, mean? What are social systems (how to conceptualise white domination, whiteness)? What are social constraints and how does social structure work (as: racism and race privilege)?
* But I would particularly be curious, actually, in psychological, critical pedaogical and social movement/justice perspectives. For instance, how does internalisation of whiteness and racial dominance work? What is internalised oppression (or ‘oppressiveness’) and internalised racism? How are white children (or all children) racially socialised – how is racism socialised/educated? How does racial conscientisation / consciousness raising work? What are the histories of anti-racism and racial conscientisation and liberation movements? How did they work and how did they not work? What is the role of the famous ‘white guilt’? What have been alternatives? What are social change models in terms of race and how do people try to change themselves and change the world around them? What are un/successful sociological models of social change? What are psychological models?
* I am wondering whether “White Power” would easily have another connotation than of (as someone above sarcastically, I hope, referred to Stormfront) neo-nazi and ultra-right white racist and fascist groups for whom that slogan is a point of reference. Also, as I think what you propose is more than studying white power. Maybe White Critical Studies (vs Critical White Studies, see the Introduction in Goldberg and Essed, 2002) or Critical Whiteness Studies, but then I assume you have reasons to not pick either.
I think I am actually really greedy here as I would love to have a holistic picture of all of this, instead of having scattered insights and often lacking disciplinary expertise. And sounds like you are offering an MA that can actually provide that, really good and interesting!
This is an important and much-needed course. I hope it is approved soon and you are able to offer it. It is extremely well thought through — very thoughtfully designed. I wish it great success!
This course is just part of the growing mountain of evidence that
institutionalised Neo-Bolshevik Guardianista, BBC, Cultural Marxist anti-White-ism / anti-Westism and pathological White civilizational self-loathing is just a ” far right wing loony conspiracy theory ”
Well , that’s what the ” anti-racist ” snake oil peddling shysters keep on telling us.
is this legal ? It looks racist in the extreme.I think this needs referring to the Police as inflaming racial prejudice.
For the last 40 years in the West , the White race has been the only race that it has been possible for Anti-White Whites and non-Whites to
collectively, as a group, ridicule ,offend, insult, demonise,, slander, stigmatise and attack with utter and total impunity.
For self-loathing middle / upper class cosmopolitan liberal progressive self-loathing Whites, denigrating their own ethncity, race and civilization as the cause of all the worlds evils and all the failures of non-Whites has is now seen as proof of their intellectual cultural sophistication and the greatest act of charity one can apsire to
It has become for them a form of
” I hate my White race more than you do ” , masochistic point scoring competition.
This is absolutely abnormal and unnatural . White LIberals are the only group in all of human history to support policies that make their own group economically , culturally , politically, territorially , and
demographically weaker. This has now evolved into a self destructive pathology that has inserted itself like a bacilli into the body politic of Western man. It is a death cult. Naturally, non-Whites look on in
disbelief and astonishment at our behaviour and cannot believe their luck have no qualms about taking advantage of our obsession with not wanting to be seen as a ” bad ” person. Non-White immigrants have every reason to gush forth with all the required multicult pleasanties and cliches because it benefdits them and their group . They are groupists
The highest and foremost definition of morallity known to mankind is the preservation of one’s own family, relations, community, nation, culture , ethnicty and race , and being able to recognise that which is dangerous or beneficial for one’s own kind , and when these are threatened ,
defending them is a nature ordained imperitive of the highest order .
Since time began , human tribes and societies rooted in a shared
ancestry , history , kinship and mythology has been the factory default setting of mankind.
Only White people can be convinced that they are nothing more than a meaningless optical illusion and sociological fraud .Only White people have made themselves so scatty with oversentimentalised intellectual abstractions that they can be convinced that handing over their children’s heritage and lands to competing alien peoples and cultures , and becoming a minority of dwindling numbers and influence in their own
homelands could not possibly have any negative consequences .
Ethno-centrism when practiced by Whites is demonised as being soem form of mental abnormality . But when ethnic / racial solidarity is
practiced by non Whites it is seen as perfectly normal and natural.
For the last 50 years and wicked and cynical campaign has been waged by an army of fantical ideological hacks of entrenched racial double
standards against Whites, but so as to make it not look too obvious it has been tarted up with a lot of cutsey sounding semantics and
sophistic nonsense and a bit of Marxism throw in as a way to guilt trip gullible Whites and give it an air of intellectual sophistication and social respectibility. It is a racket and a monstrous sociological lie and has taken on the properties of a faith based system and religion . That’s why it acts like a religion and needs an army of moral torch mobs, public show trials, media witch hunts , persecutions, selectively targetted racial and religious hate speech laws speech laws and prison sentences to keep the lid on it .
How mysterious that for you people the concept of race has an on/ off switch and the White race suddenly becomes a thing that does exist when spoked of in the negative in terms of guilt shame and sorrow and when used as the world’s whipping boy and a scapegoat .
You do know that human nature is not a meanngless abstraction, don’t you ? And eventually you will push your luck too far and old Whitey will say that’s enough of this , it is threatening our children’s future and our
biological survival and he will push back. and you will have no one to blame but yourselves
What about the issue that people would get in debt for this course, would disproportionately be black and brown students and is not likely to lead to a job with a secure income? So would there be differential pricing? Also, if this is knowledge to dismantle the master’s house, then what about the other part of the sentiment, that you can’t use the master’s tools to dismantle it? so could this not just be offered outside the academy, for example?
The MA, though certainly problematically titled (and distressing to myself as a person of black descent, given it’s historical connotations) offers a very exciting and interesting frame to get students engaged with the difficulties of making invisible axis of power more visible to others (though I imagine that many students who attend the course will be those who already have an understanding of these issues).
However, I wonder how much a programme like this will be preaching to the choir… will those who take it simply be those who already know all about it? To me the project of the future is to take these ideas and get them to the masses some how. One part would be to make the title itself more inclusive of those who are interested in these issues, perhaps making the scope wider (more than just the British empire). At the moment I have no actual suggestions of how/where that may go…. but just a thought. A course like this is long overdue, and would hate to see it derailed because the name is so… off putting (which is putting it mildly).
I find the practical project component of this degree deeply problematic. It sounds much more like ‘unpaid labour’ than a proper academic project with practical application. In short, it seems to me that an organisation will benefit from the work by a student paying for his/her degree and learn how white power allegedly works in the organisation itself or in the community it operates in. Shouldn’t any organisation willing to learn so pay someone to do the work? Actually, thinking about it this project is worse than unpaid labour, since someone paying for the MA is actually deployed to do work for free for an organisation in order to be able to obtain said MA. That is, you would have to pay to work for someone in order to get a degree.
Also, it is a bit surprising that an MA purporting to be part of ‘critical studies’ uncritically reproduces the mantra that the British empire was the most powerful of all. Quite honestly, this is an idea that I have only ever read/heard in the UK. Shouldn’t this MA critically evaluate this squarely Anglo-Saxon conception of this bit of world history? But then, I guess we are all affected by our own biases, no matter how critical we would like to be.