The October 2023 issue of Race & Class provides a cutting-edge analysis of the British ‘War on Woke’, as well as the role of ethnic minorities in the Conservative party.
What does the ambiguous, catch-all term ‘woke’ actually mean, and how has it become central to the UK’s political discourse today? Now in print in the October 2023 issue of Race & Class, ‘An anatomy of the British War on Woke’ by sociologists Huw C. Davies and Sheena E. MacRae, could not be more timely. The authors map out how an intensive ideological campaign against social justice movements is mobilising far-right tropes and conspiracy theories within mainstream British political discourse, revealing how motifs such as ‘cultural marxism’, ‘critical race theory’ and ‘woke ideology’ are being used to target progressive politics.
Accompanying this article in the October issue is an analysis of the 2022 Conservative leadership campaign, of ethnic minority candidates who were also considered the most right-wing of the senior leadership. The authors (Rima Saini, Michael Bankole and Neema Begum) through critical discourse analysis of narratives related to race, borders, immigration and the ‘nation’ by contenders Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid, Nadhim Zahawi, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch position them as ethnic minority ‘post-racial gatekeepers’, intensifying a trend within the Conservative Party of legitimising the racial status quo through nominal ethnic minority representation.
Articles
- An anatomy of the British war on woke by Huw C. Davies and Sheena E. MacRae
- The 2022 Conservative leadership campaign and post-racial gatekeeping by Rima Saini, Michael Bankole and Neema Begum
- Islam, violence and the ‘four dogmas of Orientalism’ by Tim Jacoby
Commentary
- The present imperium by Jeremy Seabrook
Review article
- Private Worlds by Jeremy Seabrook: a response by Peter Pelz
Book Reviews
- Crossing a Line: laws, violence and roadblocks to Palestinian political expression by Amahl Bishara and Palestine Hijacked: how Zionism forged an apartheid state from river to sea by Thomas Suárez (Nancy Murray)
- Palestine: matters of truth and justice by Azmi Bishara (Ibrahim Fraihat and Reema Aburamadan)
- Permanent Markers: race, ancestry and the body after the genome
by Sarah Abel (Jessica Pandian)
- Blazing Trails: stories of a heroic generation by Gus John (Donari Yahzid)
- Fractured: race, class, gender and the hatred of identity politics by Michael Richmond and Alex Charnley (Ronit Lentin)
- Charged: how the police try to suppress protest by Matt Foot and Morag Livingstone (Matt Clement)
Read both articles, along with the rest of the October issue online, or order a physical copy for £6.