The Myths of the Antiracist Enlightenment and the French Revolution

This chapter focuses on the relationship between antiracist discourses and changing interpretations of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution of 1789, and in particular on the invention of an antiracist &s;tradition&s;. The myth surrounding the Abbé Grégoire would bolster the antiracism of the immediate post-war period, by locating it within a broader frame of reference. The idea of &s;routinisation&s;, as defined by Max Weber, is useful in this context: &s;As a permanent structure with a system of rational rules, bureaucracy is fashioned to meet calculable and recurrent needs by means of a normal routine&s;. A series of articles on the Encyclopedia marked its bicentenary in 1951, emphasising its arguments against force and in favour of reason. The relevance of Enlightenment/Revolution ‘traditions’ was less obvious for these newer groups than for the more traditional organisations. Instead of arguing that antiracism is a response to racism, antiracist organisations sought to define themselves as the norm and racism as the aberrant.

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