The Comparative Imagination: On the History of Racism, Nationalism, and Social MovementsIn this collection of essays, an eminent American historian of race relations discusses issues central to our understanding of the history of racism, the role of racism, and the possibilites for justice in contemporary society. George M. Fredrickson provides an eloquent and vigorous examination of race relations in the United States and South Africa and at the same time illuminates the emerging field of comparative history—history that is explicitly cross-cultural in its comparisons of nations, eras, or social structures. Taken together, these thought-provoking, accessible essays—several never before published—bring new precision and depth to our understanding of racism and justice, both historically and for society today. The first group of essays in The Comparative Imagination summarizes and evaluates the cross-national comparative history written in the past fifty years. These essays pay particular attention to comparative work on slavery and race relations, frontiers, nation-building and the growth of modern welfare states, and class and gender relations. The second group of essays represents some of Fredrickson's own explorations into the cross-cultural study of race and racism. Included are new essays covering such topics as the theoretical and cross-cultural meaning of racism, the problem of race in liberal thought, and the complex relationship between racism and state-based nationalism. The third group contains Fredrickson's recent work on anti-racist and black liberation movements in the United States and South Africa, especially in the period since World War II. In addition, Fredrickson's provocative introduction breaks significant new intellectual ground, outlining a justification for the methods of comparative history in light of such contemporary intellectual trends as the revival of narrative history and the predominance of postmodern thought. |
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The Comparative Imagination: On the History of Racism, Nationalism, and ... George M. Fredrickson No preview available - 1997 |
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action African American African National African National Congress Algeria American and South American exceptionalism antiapartheid apartheid argued attitudes Biko Black Consciousness Movement Black Liberation Black Power Black Theology Brazil campaign Cape capitalist century Christian civil rights movement colonial color Communist comparative history Comparative Perspective Comparative Study comparison conception Cone Congress context cross-national comparative cultural Degler democratic differences domination early economic emancipation equality essay ethnic European Fredrickson freedom French frontier historians human ideology Indians inequality influence Kolchin labor major Malcolm Malcolm X Martin Luther King mass ment modern nationalist nonracial nonviolent oppression organization Pogrund policies political protest race relations racial racism radical recent regime resistance revolution revolutionary Russian Serfdom segregation sense significant slave slavery and race Sobukwe social society sociologists South Africa southern status Steve Biko Stokely Carmichael struggle tion Tocqueville Tocqueville's tradition Unfree Labor United White Supremacy York