can't remember in which thread we had the discussion on whether racism always existed in human history or not.
Basically Mr. Tea (and maybe a few others) were of the opinion that Racism is nothing new under the sun, and has always been with humanity since the dawn of time. While i very much disagreed.
Following are a few excerpts from Vijay Prashad (with some paraphrasing) which i think clarifies the issue:
So yes, Racism as we know it today was certainly an invention of Colonialism, unique in enough crucial ways to constitute its own cohesive ideology and branch of pseudo-science.
But no, it does not mean "Europeans have a unique capacity for evil" (as some have simple mindedly tried to claim is my position), for Europeans prior to the modern age did not make the mistake of biological racism either.
Basically Mr. Tea (and maybe a few others) were of the opinion that Racism is nothing new under the sun, and has always been with humanity since the dawn of time. While i very much disagreed.
Following are a few excerpts from Vijay Prashad (with some paraphrasing) which i think clarifies the issue:
"'The Ancients did not fall into the error of biological racism; dark skin was never a sign of inferiority; Greeks and Romans did not establish color as an obstacle to integration in society; and ancient society was one that, for all its faults and failures, never made skin color the basis for judging a man' (Rod Bush)
(prior to 16th C.) "African and Asian peoples constitued notions of distinction based not on skin color but on cultural exchange. (There was) ignorant ethnocentrism and xenophobia... (but) to feel (culturally) superior to someone is not necessarily to hate that person, and it certainly does not ordain that one can then capture, treat as fundamentally inhuman, and utilize that person principllay for labor.
Despite the evidence of enslavement (of mostly war captives), it is clear, however, that it did not begin to approach the sheer volume of modern slavery. Also the premodern mode of production was not BASED on slave labor (as was the Atlantic economy in a later age); nor was slavery based upon the dehumanization of particular groups of people based on ethnicity or geography (Chinese enslaved mostly other Chinese, Arabs other Arabs, etc). (Captured and enslaved 'barbarians' were culturally different, but never 'sub-human', and often could, after a time of servitude, assimilate into mainstream society.) Premodern slavery was sometimes brutal, but was also often a form of apprenticeship in which slaves learnt a trade and then later earned their freedom. In fact 'Slavery was often used as a means of creating fictive ties of kinship" - (like marriage)."
So yes, Racism as we know it today was certainly an invention of Colonialism, unique in enough crucial ways to constitute its own cohesive ideology and branch of pseudo-science.
But no, it does not mean "Europeans have a unique capacity for evil" (as some have simple mindedly tried to claim is my position), for Europeans prior to the modern age did not make the mistake of biological racism either.