Editorial to Racism and Sociology

Against this backdrop, the following papers discuss particular aspects of the relations between racism and sociology. In the introductory section Wulf D. Hund (Universität Hamburg) analyses the connections of classist and racist considerations in the course of the development of sociological thought until the establishment of academic sociology and Alana Lentin (University of Western Sydney) investigates the elision, neglect or denial of race in the work of scholars of >migration, ethnicity and minorities<. Subsequently, Felix Losing (Universität Hamburg) inquires after the influence of Robert E. Park's involvement in the Congo Reform Movement for his approach to the sociology of race relations and Les Back and Maggie Tate (Goldsmiths, University of London) deal with the linkages between black and white sociology through a discussion of the legacies of W.E.B. Du Bois and Stuart Hall. Following this, Barnor Hesse (Northwestern University) argues that the sociological turn against racism is accompanied by a marginalisation of black sociology and Sirma Bilge (Université de Montreal) shows that the mainstream adoption of intersectionality serves to whiten, discipline and dilute, an initially insurgent knowledge firmly rooted in black feminist thought and activism. Finally, Silvia Rodriguez Maeso and Marfa Armijo (Universidade de Coimbra) complexify the relationship between power and knowledge in >evidence-based< policy making using this to critique assumptions about >integration< and >interculturality< in light of the European silence about race.