Philosopher's Zone Racism and racial regimes
Feb 11, 2026
Alana Lenton, professor of cultural and social analysis and author on race, explores how racism is woven into modern institutions. She discusses racial regimes, white temporal imaginaries, Cedric Robinson and the black radical tradition. Conversations cover critiques of CRT, colonial omissions, race as a technology of governance, and why superficial reforms fail.
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Racism As A Structural Technology
- Racism is a permanent social structure embedded in Western modernity, not merely individual prejudice.
- Alana Lenton argues race functions as a technology to manage difference and reproduce white supremacy.
White Time Masks Continuing Racism
- The Western idea of linear progress creates 'white time' that treats racism as a past problem.
- Lenton uses heterochronic history to show multiple coexisting times where racial systems persist.
Racial Regimes Recalibrate, Don’t Disappear
- Cedric Robinson's 'racial regimes' are constructed systems that justify power relations via racial mythology.
- Lenton emphasizes regimes constantly recalibrate, stitching new elements to old to hide their assembly.
