I absolutely love the work you're doing here, and I had a somewhat random question that you /might/ know the answer to (noneorries if you don't). do you know the history/original meaning of the term "racialized"? I think it's been in use for a somewhat long time but I've seen it circulating more recently here. alwahs sorta put a bad taste in my mouth (makes it sound a bit like being non-white is A Thing That Happens To You rather than just. a thing and to me seems just generally like a weird way to say it) but I've tried to look into the history and couldn't find anything conclusive. obviously no worries if you don't know!
I had to think about this one.
The history of the word? No, I don't know. The definition is essentially trying to say that people are affected by the social construct of race, rather than it being biological. Which... Is like... Yeah duh? Not sure why it needed that, except I guess there are a lot of people who believe it's biological. I guess it's meant to show more of an active process of applying racial identity to people, rather than "being" a race. So, okay, sure.
I can see why it puts a bad taste in your mouth, though. I don't think "racialized" as a word and meaning itself bothers me, but moreso the classic misuse of The Tumblr with a Word that bothers me. Particularly in how white folk try to use it as a way to dodge their Whiteness relative to the space they're in, when that Whiteness... Is relative to the space they're in. Yes, I meant to say that twice.
For example, a white Jewish person in Europe is gonna deal with far more racialization amongst other non-Jewish white people. That's just facts, has been for a long time. Jewish people are quite racialized. But if I put Arab and Black Jewish people in that same room, suddenly, the dynamic shifts. They didn't stop being Jewish, that's still going to matter! But... Now they're WHITE and Jewish. There's another level to the racialization, if that makes sense.
I'm sure there's someone who could explain it better than me.
I’ve not had a chance to research this in depth myself yet, but this article gives a brief summary of the origins of the term:
Here are a few quotes that may be helpful for the asker:
“Racial formation as a theory started in the 1970s by Michael Omi and Howard Winant in their perennial book Racial Formation in the United States.”
“Omi and Winant define racialization as ‘the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group’”
This article also explains why the term is useful as well as some potential flaws/specific situations that aren’t fully addressed by it. It doesn’t have a ton of detail but it’s useful as an introduction
There you go, there's the people who can explain it better than me. 👆🏾





















