Whitehead2012a

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Whitehead2012a
BibType ARTICLE
Key Whitehead2012a
Author(s) Kevin A. Whitehead
Title Racial categories as resources and constraints in everyday interactions: Implications for non-racialism in post-apartheid South Africa
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Non-racialism, racial categories, interaction, South Africa, ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, Racism
Publisher
Year 2012
Language English
City
Month
Journal Ethnic and Racial Studies
Volume 35
Number 7
Pages 1248–1265
URL Link
DOI 10.1080/01419870.2011.591407
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
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Abstract

The anti-apartheid struggle was characterized by tensions between the opposing ideologies of non-racialism (exemplified by the Freedom Charter) and racialism (exemplified by Black Consciousness). These tensions have remained prevalent in public policies and discourse, and in the writings of social scientists, in the post-apartheid period. In this paper I examine some ways in which issues of whether, when, and how race matters become visible in everyday interactions in South Africa, and what insights this may offer with respect to these ongoing tensions. Specifically, I employ an ethnomethodological, conversation analytic approach to examine some ways in which racial categories are treated as resources for action or constraints on action. I conclude by arguing that these findings point to the contingent and situational operation of a practical non-racialism (as well as practical racialism), and thus to the achievement of these ideologies in the moment-by-moment unfolding of interactions.

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