Race in Sweden by Hübinette, Tobias; Lundström, Catrin; Wikström, Peter;

Short description:

Race in Sweden is an introduction to, and a critical investigation of, the Swedish relationship to the concept of race in the post-war and contemporary era.

Long description:

Race in Sweden is an introduction to, and a critical investigation of, the Swedish relationship to race in the post-war and contemporary eras. This relationship is fundamentally shaped by an ideology of colourblindness, with any kind of race talk being taboo in public discourse and everyday language use, and in practice forbidden in official and institutional language.

A study of a country which was until recently strikingly white but has become extremely diverse, yet where the legacy of Swedish whiteness co-exists with a radical, colourblind, antiracist ideology, Race in Sweden will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and humanities with interests in race and ethnicity, whiteness and Nordic studies.

Chapters 2 and 3 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

'Europeans claim that racial thinking ended in the continent after WWII, the Holocaust and decolonization.　Hübinette, Lundström, and Wikström challenge this myth by examining the most extreme case of racial innocence in Europe – Sweden. Relying on an impressive array of sources, cases, and historical material, they convincingly show that behind the Swedes’ self-proclaimed color-blindness lies a white racial regime. This book serves as a clear, empirical correction to the color-blind nonsense so many in Sweden believe in.' - Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Professor of Sociology, Duke University, USA

'Race in Sweden is a major contribution to comparative racial studies, whiteness studies and European critical race studies. This groundbreaking book belongs to and represents the new racial studies in Europe and should be required reading for academics, activists, policy makers and anyone who is interested in understanding the complex politics of racism and antiracism in contemporary Europe. The authors provide a much needed case study of the histories, ideologies and challenges that Sweden and the Swedes are juggling with when it comes to reworking the meaning of race, racism and antiracism in a new, multiethnic and multiracial country.' - France Winddance Twine, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. The modern history of Swedish whiteness and Swedish race relations

2. The emergence and development of the world’s first colourblind nation

3. The Swedish N-issue, Swedish N’s and white transracial identifications

4. Non-white adoptees and a new relationship between race and Swedishness

5. Swedish whiteness as white terror and non-white rage in antiracist Sweden

6. When colourblindness runs amok: The Swedish debate on equality data

Conclusion