Racialization in history and theory: World War II,Ethiopia,and colorblindness in international relations

Abstract

World War II was saturated by racialized dynamics including imperialism, racist ideologies, persecution of racial minorities, and genocide. It was also the foundational conflict that inspired modern international relations, a field that during the late 20th century grew notable for its colorblindness—refusing to reflect on the potential importance of racialized dynamics in world politics. Why did a field built to explain such racialized events come to elevate disciplinary historiographies that centered colorblind theories? We argue that the excision of race played a constitutive role in recasting what had previously been a more organically intertwined relationship between history and theory, shaping both portrayals of the field’s “core” as well as its subsequent historical “turns.” Interrogating how geopolitical, professional, and societal pressures shaped processes of exclusion and portrayal in the construction of postwar histories and theories, this article demonstrates how racialized dynamics shaped the League of Nations’ failure to address Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, how historical narratives of World War II excluded those dynamics, and how International Relations (IR) scholars constructed influential disciplinary historiographies around colorblind frameworks. Our findings shed fresh light on the relationship between history and theory while also helping the contemporary field reintegrate considerations of race in IR theory.