Reviews for Merchants and Migrations: Germans and Americans in Connection,1776-1835

The average rating for Merchants and Migrations: Germans and Americans in Connection,1776-1835 based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-11-01 00:00:00 danny cleworth I like what Feagin is trying to do in this book (or, at least what I think he is trying to do in this book). However, I wasn't impressed with the actual book itself. In Systemic Racism, Feagin attempts to synthesize the structural, ideological, and cognitive explanations of the continuation of white supremacy in America. He tries to offer an overarching theoretical account of the three explanations, which he calls the systemic racism account. Once he describes what this account entails, her turns to surveys, interviews, and journals for three phases of American racism (slavery, legal segregation, and contemporary racism). He rightly points out that there are important and substantial similarities in outcomes for whites and blacks across these three eras. He also rightly wants to keep whites on the hook for perpetuating racist outcomes in America. However, there are a number of problems with this book. First, is that nothing that is being said here isn't said better already somewhere else. His explanations of structural racism and ideologies of race are weak, and as such the book gets off to a weak start. Lipsitz's Possessive Investment in Whiteness/How Racism Takes Place would be better for structural accounts. Second, the analysis of whites and blacks' views on the effects of racism in America has little connection to the structural and ideological arguments in the book. They are all personal anecdotes with no reference to common themes among responses. I an sure there probably were common themes and experiences in respondents answers, and Feagin should have teased those out to be compatible with the structural/ideological aspects of his argument. Bonilla-Silva does a wonderful job of this in his Racism without Racists. Third, his account of whites is monolithic. All whites are the same and all of their racial attitudes are white supremacist. While I agree that all whites have internalized white supremacist ideology, I also believe that whites have internalized egalitarian beliefs. Whites harbor contradictory beliefs about race and racism and it's those contradictions that are interesting to me. Feagin dismisses the contradictions as whites engaging in socially desirable responding to hide their "real" beliefs on race. Finally, Feagin would do well to read Marable's The Great Wells of Democracy for an example of the kind of writing that can enlighten white young people encountering these ideas for the first time and create the space for them to become active agents in the quest for racial justice. Feagin writes for people who agree with him. I happen to be a person who agrees with a lot of what he says, but as someone looking for texts on race to teach, I found myself thinking about how alienating his work could be to some students. There is no reason that we cannot hold white people accountable for perpetuating racial injustice, and simultaneously recognize the tiny minority of whites engaged in social justice work. To inspire white students to take up this cause, we have to say that the cause is not already doomed from the outset. We have to say that "yes, for the vast majority of our history and population, white supremacy is the name of the game. However, there are other ways of being. We have these examples. What kind of white person do you want to be?" If he had done a more thorough job of explaining the structural and ideological aspects, if he had not painted the picture of all whites as necessarily and unconflictingly white supremacist, he could have created the opportunity for critical reflection and the adoption of an anti-racist white identity. One shouldn't coddle white people or deny their culpability in white supremacy--however, one must create the space for a rejection of white supremacy if one wants young people to take up social justice work. I felt like Feagin failed in this respect.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-01-02 00:00:00 Kristina Petersen Oh, America Past and Present, my old frenemy. I remember all those nights I spent with you: stressing and worrying and waking up with highlighter on my face. I remember waking up after three hours of sleep feeling gross because I hadn't showered the night before and red eyes because I slept in my contacts. Sometimes I liked you when I went to study group and we quizzed each other over coffee. You were even useful when I wanted to kill the fly on my ceiling. Still, I am glad to be done with you. I actually sleep at night now without a crank in my neck from sleeping on a textbook. I shower every day, and I have free time on the weekends. I don't have to freak out over anything AP, just getting into college (which I have already). Overall, I don't miss you, America Past and Present. I don't think anyone ever misses you. I do wish I could get someone to buy you off me though. That would be nice.