A ›Crisis of Whiteness‹ in the ›Heart of Darkness‹

Download or read book A ›Crisis of Whiteness‹ in the ›Heart of Darkness‹ written by Felix Lösing and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2021-01-31 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British and American Congo Reform Movement (ca. 1890-1913) has been praised extensively for its ›heroic‹ confrontation of colonial atrocities in the Congo Free State. Its commitment to white supremacy and colonial domination, however, continues to be overlooked, denied, or trivialised. This historical-sociological study argues that racism was the ideological cornerstone and formed the main agenda of this first major human rights campaign of the 20th century. Through a thorough analysis of contemporary sources, Felix Lösing unmasks the colonial and racist formation of the modern human rights discourse and investigates the ›historical work‹ of racism at a crossroads between imperial power and ›white crisis‹.