Between Post-Racial Ideology and Provincial Universalisms: Critical Race Theory, Decolonial Thought and COVID-19 in Britain
Publication Date
2022Journal Title
Sociology
ISSN
0038-0385
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Volume
56
Issue
1
Pages
131-147
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Meghji, A., & Niang, S. (2022). Between Post-Racial Ideology and Provincial Universalisms: Critical Race Theory, Decolonial Thought and COVID-19 in Britain. Sociology, 56 (1), 131-147. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385211011575
Abstract
<jats:p>This article looks at the British government’s handling of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. We argue that to analyse the government’s handling of this situation, we need to synergize insights from critical race theory (CRT) with decolonial thought. CRT shows how the pandemic has revealed and exacerbated racial inequalities within Britain, while these inequalities are then explained away through a post-racial ideology. Contrastingly, decolonial thought helps us to understand how Britain practises western and little Englander universalisms; neglecting other countries’ successful strategies of handling the pandemic, as they seek to pursue a ‘world-beating’ strategy to defeat the virus rather than help forge a global solidarity.</jats:p>
Keywords
Articles, COVID-19, critical race theory, decolonial thought
Identifiers
10.1177_00380385211011575
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385211011575
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/333857
Rights
Licence:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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