Title of Presentation or Performance
The Underground: Racial Discourse in Russia
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
William Munro
Expected Graduation Date
2018
Location
Room E103, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-21-2018 11:00 AM
End Date
4-21-2018 12:00 PM
Disciplines
Education
Abstract
Russian cultural ideology on civilization, race, and “Russianness”, are the foundation for which racism against Africans in Russian society. The construction of race in Russia is deeply rooted in ethnic and racial conflict(s) and the creation of the “Other” applied to those that did not fit within ethnic perimeters. Racism in Russia against Afro-Russians can be correlated to the developed tangible consequences Afro-Russians experience everyday. The means the ways in which racism is acted out can be understood through four lens: historical, children’s literature, the arts, and the creation and application of laws. Currently, Afro-Russians battle constant structural biases and violence particularly different from other Russian minorities such as Jews, Romas, and Chechens. In this paper, connections will be made between current racial violence and tension in the Russian Federation and to the long historical imprint of racism against those of African descent residing in Russia. This paper will challenge that a particular discrimination and racism is experienced by Afro-Russians in Russia is due to the intellectual tradition of understanding African peoples as sub-par humans functioning in an uncivilized society.
The Underground: Racial Discourse in Russia
Room E103, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Russian cultural ideology on civilization, race, and “Russianness”, are the foundation for which racism against Africans in Russian society. The construction of race in Russia is deeply rooted in ethnic and racial conflict(s) and the creation of the “Other” applied to those that did not fit within ethnic perimeters. Racism in Russia against Afro-Russians can be correlated to the developed tangible consequences Afro-Russians experience everyday. The means the ways in which racism is acted out can be understood through four lens: historical, children’s literature, the arts, and the creation and application of laws. Currently, Afro-Russians battle constant structural biases and violence particularly different from other Russian minorities such as Jews, Romas, and Chechens. In this paper, connections will be made between current racial violence and tension in the Russian Federation and to the long historical imprint of racism against those of African descent residing in Russia. This paper will challenge that a particular discrimination and racism is experienced by Afro-Russians in Russia is due to the intellectual tradition of understanding African peoples as sub-par humans functioning in an uncivilized society.