answer:
the geographic study of race and racism has a long and sometimes contested history dating to the founding of modern geography around the turn of the 20th century. early studies were a product of their times, adopting an uncritical stance to the supposed truism that “races” existed. thus, as european nations began to establish empires throughout africa, asia, and north and south america these states needed to come to terms with their conquests and to justify the exploitation of newly colonized peoples. subsequently, there emerged an assemblage of scientific discourses that purportedly documented the natural division of humanity into a hierarchically ordered set of discrete races. within geography the study of race factored prominently in the paradigm of environmental determinism. here, climate and other physical factors were held to impart determining factors that would influence the social and behavioral characteristics of different races. with the promotion of environmental possibilism many of the more outlandish claims of environmental determinism were discarded; however, the existence of essentialized races remained prevalent. throughout the tumultuous decades of the 1960s and 1970s, as many western nations experienced major social upheavals, the scholarly study of race underwent a transformation. the advent of more critical approaches to human geography, influenced significantly by the civil rights movement, challenged the essentialist conception of race. increasingly, race is now understood not as biologically given but as socially constructed. race, in other words, is a discourse—but one with material ramifications. because although race is not something innate, the meanings of race are important, as in the ongoing debates surrounding racism. racism, at a basic level, refers to prejudicial and discriminatory behaviors and practices based on essentialist notions of race. racism may assume direct forms, such as racial violence (e.g., hate crimes). racism may also be more subtle, seen for example in hiring practices or admissions standards. how racism is manifest spatially—and how racism can be challenged—remain especially salient topics within geography.
general overviews
