Library and Academic Services: Anti-Racism Learning Toolkit: About Race and Racism

About Race and Racism

According to the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CCRF):

When defining Race, "modern scholarship views racial categories as socially constructed, that is, race is not intrinsic to human beings but rather an identity created, often by socially dominant groups, to establish meaning in a social context. This often involves the subjugation of groups defined as racially inferior, as in the one-drop rule used in the 19th-century United States to exclude those with any amount of African ancestry from the dominant racial grouping, defined as 'white'. Such racial identities reflect the cultural attitudes of imperial powers dominant during the age of European colonial expansion. This view rejects the notion that race is biologically defined."

Racialization is "the process through which groups come to be socially constructed as races, based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, language, economics, religion, culture, politics, etc."

Racism is "a belief that one group is superior to others performed through any individual action, or institutional practice which treats people differently because of their colour or ethnicity. This distinction is often used to justify discrimination."

Systemic Racism is "an interlocking and reciprocal relationship between the individual, institutional and structural levels which function as a system of racism. These various levels of racism operate together in a lockstep model and function together as whole system. These levels are:

Individual (within interactions between people)
Institutional (within institutions and systems of power)
Structural or societal (among institutional and across society)"

Anti-Racism is "an active and consistent process of change to eliminate individual, institutional and systemic racism."

Source: CRRF Glossary of Terms

Picture: Audre Lorde (Wikimedia Commons). Read about activist Audre Lorde.

Featured Titles

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Location: E 184 .A1 K344 2019 (Notre Dame Campus & ebook)
"The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it -- and then dismantle it." Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America -- but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. In this book, Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. How to Be an Antiracist is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society." -- Provided by publisher.
Interrogating Race and Racism by Vijay Agnew
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2016
It is a common misconception that, in the contemporary world, racism has been somehow defeated, pushed to the boundaries of acceptable social behaviour. In fact, racism has taken on a subtler guise in the ways it is expressed. This ambiguity has made racism more insidious than it once was. Interrogating Race and Racism examines the subject of racism with a view to uncovering the many ways in which it exists today.As a subject with so many permutations, racism is necessarily examined from a multidisciplinary perspective in this collection, featuring authors from a variety of backgrounds. Among the specific topics discussed are border politics and the search for asylum, exclusionary policies, and the struggle for substantive citizenship.
The Politics of Race by Jill Vickers; Annette Isaac
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2019
As race and politics become increasingly intertwined in both academic and popular discourse, The Politics of Race aids readers in evaluating different approaches for promoting racial justice and transforming states.
Racism in Canada by Vic Satzewich
Location: FC 104 .S2893 2010 (Notre Dame Campus)
There are widely divergent views about racism in Canada. Some believe that racism is a fundamental feature of Canadian society and national identity. This dystopian view of Canada as a fundamentally and irrevocably racist society carries considerable currency in some academic and activistcircles. Others argue that racism is oversold as a social problem: while pockets of racism do exist, Canada remains a fundamentally fair place for people of diverse backgrounds to prosper and flourish.Vic Satzewich's short and accessible book explores how racism operates in Canadian society, past and present. Racism is a complex aspect of Canadian society; while it may not be an inherent and invariant feature of our country, it is also more prevalent than many people may realize.The book examines a variety of issues including racism and the immigration system, racial profiling, racism and First Nations and Islamophobia.
Racisms in a Multicultural Canada by Augie Fleras
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2014
In acknowledging the possibility that as the world changes so too does racism, this book argues that racism is not disappearing, despite claims of living in a post-racial and multicultural world. To the contrary, racisms persist by transforming into different forms whose intent or effects remain the same: to deny and disallow as well as to exclude and exploit. Racisms in a Multicultural Canada is organized around the assumption that race is not simply a set of categories and that racism is not just a collection of individuals with bad attitudes. Rather, racism is as much a matter of interests as of attitudes, of property as of prejudice, of structural advantage as of personal failing, of whiteness as of the "other," of discourse as of discrimination, and of unequal power relations as of bigotry.

Featured Videos

Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing - Rebecca Thomas
Rebecca Thomas explains the importance of 'Etuaptmumk' or two-eyed seeing.
Hue: A Matter of Colour by Vic Sarin
Vic Sarin is a personal yet global investigation into the history and current state of colourism: the discrimination within one ethnicity based on differences in skin tone. Sarin travels the globe to discuss this complex cross-cultural social issue with individuals whose lives it affects. Hue leads viewers on a thoughtful and surprising journey to the heart of a painful and pervasive social issue that not only polices appearance, but also class, gender, and geography.
Reverse Racism - Aamer Rahman
Watch this video clip of Aamer Rahman, an Australian stand-up comedian, debunking reverse racism.
The Science of Racism
This video explores the ways in which our brain compartmentalizes, classifies and subconsciously discriminates in order to make sense of the world around us.
White Privilege: Does It Exist?
Recent U.S. grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers for killing black men Michael Brown and Eric Garner have sparked outrage and protest. They've also brought to the fore questions about the difference between how whites and minorities are treated. The National assembles a panel of political commentators who try to parse some difficult questions.

Featured Toolkits

Anti-Racism Education in Canada: Best Practices
This report provides a summary of best practices as well as examples of initiatives in anti-racism education in Canadian cities. The report includes a research summary, literature review for implementing policies, and conclusions on the benefits of anti-racism education as a whole-district initiative.
Glossary of Terms
The Canadian Race Relations Foundation maintains a glossary with definitions of key concepts relevant to race relations, the promotion of Canadian identity, belonging and the mutuality of citizenship rights and responsibilities.
Indigenous Ally Toolkit
Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network breaks down allyship into 3 steps: Be critical of any motivations; start learning, and act accordingly.
Learning about Racism
The Canadian Race Relations Foundation has developed an exclusive, free on-line program that has brought together a “faculty” of subject matter experts to create a curriculum and a set of reading materials.
Moving the Race Conversation Forward
"Moving the Race Conversation Forward" is a report by Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation that aims to reshape and reform the way people talk about race and racism in United States.
Racism 101
Common terms to help you understand racism and become an ally.

Featured Articles

Antiracism Glossary for Education and Life
To create an antiracism glossary, a team of scholars from Colleagues of Color for Social Justice (CCSJ) identified and defined 48 terms relating to racism and antiracism based on careful review of existing race-related glossaries, scholarly articles, and widely-read books on the topic. The purpose of this glossary is to recognize and explain terms related to attitudes, behaviors, and policies that impact people’s lives, particularly within academia.
Perpetuating Abolition in the Language We Use: Does ‘BIPOC’ Get the Job Done?
Mika Alexander writes about the term BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Colour). Shifting to this new term captures the new chapter in the antiracism movement.
The truth behind ‘reverse racism’, it’s not racism
Tina Changoor offers a concise explanation of 'reverse racism' and why acknowledging those claims harms anti-racism discourse.
Want to be an ally to black, Indigenous and people of colour? Here's what you need to know (CBC News)
From CBC PEI, Sam Juric looks at what it means to be an ally with BIPOC every day beyond protesting racism.
Why the term “BIPOC” is so complicated, explained by linguists (Vox News)
In this Vox article, the terms BIPOC and 'people of colour' are examined from its origins to losing its meaning at certain times. While people struggle with what to say one professor of critical race theory adds “People want to be named and recognized, not as part of an amalgam.”

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