10 - Present Times and Future Places

Summary

This chapter concludes the book by shifting the analysis to three sets of interlinked conversations that seem to frame the current debates about race and migration. We begin by analysing the impact of the ongoing conversation about the position of the United Kingdom within the European Union that led to the decision in the 2016 Referendum to support a strategy of leaving the Union and taking back control of national borders. As several commentators have argued in recent years, the impact of the debates around Brexit is likely to be felt in the coming decade or so as their impact on influencing and shaping both current and future agendas about race and racism become more evident. We then move on to explore the implications of continual efforts to develop and maintain a hostile environment around questions of immigration and belonging to assert control over borders and create a social basis for integrated communities. The final part of this chapter allows us to engage critically with the attempt by some commentators to distinguish racism from those forms of identity that are defined in terms of national citizen preference and racial self-interest.