Racism and the Scottish press : tracing the continuities and discontinuities of racialised discoures in Scotland

• Main Author: Singh, Gurchand
• Published: University of Leicester 1999
• Subjects: 305.8
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.696668

This is a claim, articulated by sections of the members of the Scottish press and the political elite, that racism does not exist in Scotland. The aim of this thesis is to draw on documentary evidence and secondary sources in order to demonstrate the myth of 'racial' tolerance in Scotland. Through developing a materialist and empirical method of investigation, which recognises how racialised discourses can articulate with discourses of the nation, a historical and comparative analysis was carried out. Secondary sources and existing research were used to examine the history of racialised discourses during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The examination of the substance of postwar racialised discourses involved the content analysis for Scottish newspapers and their coverage of several key events was examined (the 1958 'race riots', the 1968 Kenyan Asian crisis, and the 1980s 'race riots'). The results were compared with existing research on the English press. Overall, this demonstrated that there were continuities and discontinuities in the substance of racialised discourses. Continuities in the sense that the substance of racialised discourses in Scotland and England are very similar. This stems from the fact that both Scotland and England are bound together within the common space of the nation-state. By discontinuities, I refer to the fact that there are subtle differences in the expression of racialised discourses. In Scotland's case, the major discontinuity is the myth of 'racial' tolerance. This discontinuity stems from the fact that the British nation state still contains a distinct Scottish national identity as well as a broader English/British identity. Racialised discourses have articulated with different national identities, leading to subtle differences in the expression of racism. In the Scottish case, it includes the myth of 'racial' tolerance. However, through drawing on secondary sources, evidence will be provided that contradicts this myth.