Racism and Brexit: notes towards an antiracist populism
Pitcher, B. 2019. Racism and Brexit: notes towards an antiracist populism. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 42 (14), pp. 2490-2509. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1623410
| Title | Racism and Brexit: notes towards an antiracist populism |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Pitcher, B. |
| Abstract | This article takes Brexit and Nigel Farage’s right-wing populism as a starting point to consider the populist politics of racism and antiracism. I demonstrate how two key figures of right-wing populist discourse – the “white working class” and the “liberal elite” – have come to describe a political grammar with a widespread influence and explanatory resonance across the political spectrum, and which have as a result formed a racial common sense in Brexit Britain. Rather than accept the terms of a debate that has been set by the populist right, I draw on Ernesto Laclau to describe a rival politics of antiracist populism. Although it is far from straightforward to navigate, engagement on the terrain of the popular is not optional if we are to counter a fatalistic tendency to conceive of antiracism as a minority or elite concern. |
| Keywords | Racism, antiracism, Brexit, populism, Laclau, elites |
| Journal | Ethnic and Racial Studies |
| Journal citation | 42 (14), pp. 2490-2509 |
| ISSN | 0141-9870 |
| Year | 2019 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| Accepted author manuscript | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1623410 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 22 Jul 2019 |