New Racism Revisiting Researcher Accountabilities
This book combines the sociological exploration of human being in society with an examination of human knowing processes and their justification in the social fabric. It connects this to discussions around race/ethnicity, gender, and class issues. The boo
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Norma Romm
New Racism Revisiting Researcher Accountabilities
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Norma Romm Affiliate: University of South Africa P.O. Box 1492 Manaba Beach 4276 South Africa [email protected]
ISBN 978-90-481-8727-0 e-ISBN 978-90-481-8728-7 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-8728-7 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010924118 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
The idea for creating this book arose as I started reading various texts on racism – a topic that I had become increasingly interested in exploring over the last 6 years or so. While working with Carlis Douglas and Susan Weil on developing a book built around holding a (cross-racial) dialogue in which we probe together the multifaceted dynamics of everyday institutional racism, and upon reading relevant texts, I identified a lacuna. I realized that while there is a myriad of writings aimed at investigating racism and what is called “new racism” across the globe, there is no text specifically comparing the styles of inquiry used to proceed in the explorations. With “new racism” seen as operating in more or less covert ways in social life, and not easily visible, the question arises as to how the investigation hereof can properly proceed. How can we go about organizing social inquiries around that which is admitted to be not easily detectable (as well as being a shifting terrain)? I decided to embark on the specific project of examining in depth the variety of ways in which social researchers/inquirers have tried to study this terrain – looking closely at how they have justified their approach (insofar as they offer epistemological and methodological justifications). As I delved into the various approaches – and looked at these with a view to pinpointing the explicit and implicit justifications for the manner of proceeding – I located possibilities for how they might be redesigned and/or further developed. I concentrated on rethinking the methodologies in line with my previous work on the accountabilities of social researchers. For example, in my book Accountability in Social Research (2001), I offer suggestions for how social inquirers can display their accountabilities by being mindful of the potential impact of their inquiries on the continuing unfolding of the social worlds of which they are part. This implies paying particular attention to possible hidden consequences of taken-for-granted views of “knowing” and “knowledge making.” This is not to say that none of those concerned with exploring (new) racism alre
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