Between Camps: Nations, Culture and the Allure of Race Book

"The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the colour-line," wrote African-American intellectual, W.E.B Dubois in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk, in 1900. The problem of the 21st century, argues Paul Gilroy in his latest book, Between Camps, will be to develop a conceptual framework which will free us from the constraints of the colour-line. Between Camps is a development from, rather than a culmination of, Gilroy's earlier works such as There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack or The Black Atlantic. As such the book represents a bold attempt to move away from the limitations of "race thinking" and towards embracing a more utopian and humanistic approach to understanding the world around us. To illustrate his case he draws on a wide range of references from Bob Marley to Primo Levi and from the liberation of the concentration camps to love affairs on the Star Ship Enterprise. But while his reference points are accessible his writing style is not. This book is not for the faint-hearted or those with a casual interest in issues relating to race. Gilroy, a professor of African-American studies and sociology at Yale in America, delivers the dense prose of an academic treatise rather than a popular polemic. But for those willing to persevere the content is worth it. Gilroy uses every intellectual weapon at his disposal, from developments in bio-genetics to the mythology surrounding black people and sport, to decouple "race-thinking" as an adequate response to the problems of our age and adopt, instead, a moral vision of "planetary humanism".--Gary YoungeRead More