um... are you sure about that?

" Race as a category is undergoing a subtle but vitally important shift. By the end of the 21st century, most Americans will realise that race is a social construct, of little meaning or utility in and of itself.

...

The process of globalisation will also cause Americans to see their similarities and ignore their dimishing racial differences. The cultural values shared between a black American and a white American will be far more compelling than the racial similarities that one shares with a Nigerian and the other with a Croat.

...

Many cultural differences between white and black Americans remain. Yet through the internet, television, trade, and travel, the ties that bind Americans and distinguish us from other cultures and nations will be emphasised. "

Running on Race, Jeremy D. Mayer

Oh dear, Jeremy. I don't even know where to begin.

You're right, that's not true. I have a fair idea.

Running on Race is a close and detailed study of the issue of 'race' in American presidential election campaigns 1960-2001. Mayer's work is useful in framing what has clearly been a central and important issue in these election campaigns over the past decades; the election-by-election approach draws clear comparisons and highlights the continuities in the way this issue was mobilised, approached or avoided by different candidates.

Mayer anticipates that it might sound "hopelessly naive" to predict that white privilege, and the colour line that made it possible, will fade over the next century, thus diminishing in importance as an electoral issue.

What I think he misses is that, if anything, a lot of the forces he sees as being 'unifying' are actually working to fragment societies and people. Perhaps he would think I've got an overly pessimistic view of the influence of race, ethnicisim, nationalism, religion and the emotive power of these various issues.

But where Mayer sees hope for unification in globalisation - where the internet, trade and travel will overcome more local differences to show Americans what they have in common - I feel as through his universalism overlooks the structures of power that run throughout these global forces.

For those who feel alientated from these broad global processes, who feel threatened by international terrorism, economically insecure due to the decline of the working class as labour movements react to the global market, whose sense of personal and collective identity is challenged by appeals to cosmopolitanism... it is in these spaces that the longing for close, bounded definitions of identity and community resides, and that the strengthening of these bounded identities - apparent in the resurgence of ultranationalisms, the rise of religious affiliation and religious fundamentalism, the growth of US patriotism after 9/11 - finds its base.

I think it is in this context we need to understand racism and its continuing potency - something I don't think is going away, however much intellectuals and public commentators and politicians would like to tell us it is. The essentialising viewpoint that relies on ideas of biological 'race' (or culture or ethnicity) to distinguish between us and them affords a powerful way to be able to easily answer the questions: where do I belong? where can I feel safe? who belongs here with me, and who doesn't?

I think, when we underestimate people's fundamental need to belong, we fail to see why these forms of identity formation might continue to be powerful. As Etienne Balibar points out, racism is not simply an error or a form of 'false consciousness', and we shouldn't only think about it in this way, as through we can simply 'educate' people away from thinking wrongly. Racism offers a way to think about the world and answer questions about it and our place in it. Combined with ideas of national identity, familial identity, class identity [which Mayer sees as possibly replacing race as a central election issue], personal identity and so , racism is simply one of a suite of ideas that contributes to the basic human need to know who we are and where we belong.

But this doesn't mean it is any less important, or that it's going away any time soon - especially in electoral politics, where the competition for who will speak for the nation, and who is able to include themselves in the national 'we', is even more urgent.

listen up

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of the most completely inspiring rock records I've ever heard...everytime I finish listening to it I feel like I've lived through something I'll never quite understand, something really big. Ben Reed Parry, The Arcade Fire



If there was ever an album to cement the case for buying/listening to records as albums, in order, from start to finish, without wanting or needing to press skip, shuffle or put a few choice tracks on a playlist, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is that album. No question.

I'd been enamoured with John Darnielle's spectacularly awkward cover of Two-Headed Boy for a while now, but the when I bought the re-issued album a few months ago I didn't really know what I was in for. I'm not sure I could have been prepared.

From the first strumming chords of The King of Carrot Flowers Part I to the final tortured lyrics of Two-Headed Boy Part II it's a little difficult to breathe. Jeff Magnum and Neutral Milk Hotel move through the most uncool of arrangements, subject matter and form, with special appearances by Anne Frank and her family, a brass band, an instrumental track, the awkwardness of puberty and, of course, communism. Why not.



As original members of the remarkable Elephant Six collective [along with Elf Power, the Essex Green and others] we're meant to expect something different, a little experimental and wistful and perhaps even nostalgic from NMH [above]. Aeroplane travels a dark turn through the human spirit, simple and sweet melodies masking gruesome and slightly disturbing lyrics. It's a trip you can't help but take too - and it's best taken lying on your bed with the blinds closed, trying to catch Magnum's lyrics through his mumbling and absorbing it all as a cycle, a narrative and a classically devestating tale.

Enjoy.

When I first started driving, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was the only cassette I had in my Ford Fiesta for two years. It is amazing. Friendships can be gauged on the mutual love of Neutral Milk Hotel. Bob Hardy, Franz Ferdinand

a marathon effort

there's something endlessly appealing about the television marathon...

this weekend there's more oc than you can poke a stick at.



yes it's a little sad. yes i've seen them all before. and no, i will not be switching off or doing something constructive instead.

as Manic Bubble says, easter saturday is a waste of time, nothingy kind of day any way - so why not fill it with a delicious, waste of time, nothingy kind of show?

california, here we come.