Analysis Of Ali Rattansi's Racism: A Very Short Introduction

The idea of race that we see today is much different from when race first began to appear in societies. There have been many forms of racism, ranging from the enslavement of Africans to the eradication of the Jewish by Hitler, displaying its development over time. Even though times have changed, and so have societies, racism has continually been existent and changes with the times while remaining a pressing problem. In a book written by Ali Rattansi, called Racism: A Very Short Introduction, the author explores how race originally developed, as well as discussing how it has morphed over time and affected history. One of the major and beginning points of race emerging, discussed by Rattansi, is when Christopher Columbus came to America when on his search for Asia. Upon arrival, he found the American Indians, and saw how they did not look the same as he or his peers did, while also not clothed like he had anticipated, which was the way he looked 1. His overall view of these groups of Native Americans, was that they were “either completely and extraordinarily good or essentially wicked” 2. His ideas of thinking of a group of people as different, just because they did not have the same skin tone and …show more content…
After the idea of the noble savage, and enslaving; next came elimination on a new level than before. Originally, there were four ways that race was classified during the nineteenth century, and these were created by Robert Knox and Count Arthur de Gobineau 7. The first factor or idea was that race was not vast, but yet, could be put into small and distinct groups. From this, then they discussed that race could be identified by physical markers. This looked at features such as skin color, hair, and the size and the shape of the individuals head. Thirdly, race could be recognized by specific cultural, moral, and social traits; relating back to how