Racism in the “colony”: Towards appreciating race fluidity and racialization in social psychology of racism

Race is a significant means through which individuals and groups relate to each other. A problematic instance of its significance is colonialism and all the destruction it brought with it. In this paper, I explore how knowledge about race and racism from settings that were erstwhile colonized can enrich current understandings and approaches to studying race and racism in social psychology. I advance the possibility of mutual learning and sharing of theoretical and methodological practices for researchers who examine race and racism in colonizing or settler-colonial settings and those in erstwhile colonized settings. I do so by first, locating the centrality of Whiteness for the very development of race categories and the shaping of psychology as a discipline. Second, I discuss how race and racism are examined in (primarily) Euro-American contexts, with a focus on engagement with Whiteness by Critical Race Psychologists and social constructionist researchers. Third, I outline alternative ways of engaging with race and race categories identified in erstwhile colonized places. I end with how this latter informs our understandings of race and racism, and possibilities for mutual learning.