Re: Politely written--hoping this doesn't start another round onbiology

To Mine,

One of the main barriers to an explicit racial ideology in the the 19th
century was the debate over whether the "races" had a common origin (one
Adam) or whether each "race" had its own origin (several Adams). Because
Christian theology is wedded to the belief in only one Adam, the theory
that all "races" evolved from a single source, with "Negroes" being
degraded (for various reasons ranging from Noah's curse to the
backwardness of Africa), was acceptable. Yes, both theories are racist.

To Jozsef,

Racialist science and theology has been central to the development of the
European world-system. It is particularly vital to understand the
intellectual structures of England and the United States, as they have
been the principal agents in the racialization of the world. One of the
current manifestations of global ideological racism is sociobiology. 

If participants in a world-systems listserv (the world-systems listserv)
make you feel like they need to be criticized not for the substance of
their points but for simply talking about the ideological threads that
helped create and maintain the world-system then maybe it is not that the
list is wrong for you, Jozsef, but the obverse.

You may be surprised to find this out, but the things you wish to quiz the
list on (how much were each of those questions worth, anyway? could we
choose a certain number to answer? or do we have to have a take on all of
them to be relevant?) are not the only important things interesting and
relevant to discuss. What you need is a new listserv (and it seems that
you would have plenty of company),

                        wsn.complain@colorado.csf.edu.

Andrew Austin
Knoxville, TN