“How do things become true when there is no evidence for it?”
Presenter: Dr. Scott Thompson
Dr. Scott Thompson is a sociologist who spoke about the origins of racism. The first prompt for his talk was, “How do things become true when there is no evidence for it?” He defined race as a social construction and took a scientific approach on defining race. He then went on to explain the role racism in connection to colonialism. According to Thompson, Europeans’ technological innovations relates to colonial domination. This gave the Europeans an advantage which helped them to colonize the vast amount of areas they did. Subsequently, this advantage put the rest of the world at a disadvantage and, resulting in slavery and racism.
All in all, Dr. Scott Thompson gave a very interesting and eye opening speech on the origins of race and racism and I left the room feeling very enlightened.
By: REKHA WHITTAKER
