This book explores the discourse and practice of anti-racism in the first two decades following World War II. At its heart, it seeks to uncover the specific ways scientific and cultural discourses of "race" continued to circulate in the early period of contemporary globalization. The United Nations and its specialized agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) led the international articulation and practice of anti-racism in the postwar period. Concomitant with its rise to global hegemony directly following World War II, the United States held control over the financial and political aspects of UNESCO operations for much of the postwar period. Uncovering the shift in power within UNESCO in the early 1960s, this book also traces shifts in the politics of anti-racism and the scientific discourse of "race" through the late 1960s.

This volume seeks to recover a specific historical moment within the tradition of anthropologists trained in the United States under Franz Boas, arguably the father of modern American anthropology. Focusing on Boasians Ashley Montagu, Margaret Mead, Melville Herskovits, and Ruth Benedict, Anthony Hazard highlights the extent to which the Boasians offer historicized explanations of racism that move beyond a quest to reshape only the discipline: Boasian war work pointed to the histories of chattel slavery and colonialism to theorize not just race, but the emergence of racism as both systemic and interpersonal. The realities of race that continue to plague the United States have direct ties to the anthropological work of the figures examined here, particularly within the context of the 20th-century black freedom struggle. Ultimately, Boasians at War offers a detailed glimpse of the long troubled history of the concept of race, along with the real-life realities of racism, that have carried on despite the harnessing of scientific knowledge to combat both.

This volume seeks to recover a specific historical moment within the tradition of anthropologists trained in the United States under Franz Boas, arguably the father of modern American anthropology. Focusing on Boasians Ashley Montagu, Margaret Mead, Melville Herskovits, and Ruth Benedict, Anthony Hazard highlights the extent to which the Boasians offer historicized explanations of racism that move beyond a quest to reshape only the discipline: Boasian war work pointed to the histories of chattel slavery and colonialism to theorize not just race, but the emergence of racism as both systemic and interpersonal. The realities of race that continue to plague the United States have direct ties to the anthropological work of the figures examined here, particularly within the context of the 20th-century black freedom struggle. Ultimately, Boasians at War offers a detailed glimpse of the long troubled history of the concept of race, along with the real-life realities of racism, that have carried on despite the harnessing of scientific knowledge to combat both.

This book explores the discourse and practice of anti-racism in the first two decades following World War II, uncovering the ways scientific and cultural discourses of 'race' continued to circulate in the early period of contemporary globalization through the lens on UNESCO.