Paul Gilroy
Paul Gilroy (born 16 February 1956) is a British sociologist and cultural studies scholar.
Quotes
[edit]- I grew up in London... My parents had been politically active in different ways, so I was influenced a lot by them. I grew up as a kid going on demonstrations in my pushchair, from anti-apartheid to “ban the bomb.” My mum was very involved, and my dad had been in the Communist Party. I suppose I came of age on the end of Black Power, and when I was doing my A levels, Black Power was in the air. I read Black Power literature and thought about all those sorts of issues. Obviously, 1968 was significant. Enoch Powell made his speech, and I was 12 years old then, so I was beginning to go out and the skinheads were around. At times, you had to run for your life or they would attack you in the street.
- Today, people don’t talk about black people eating Kit-e-Kat.
- Appropriation is the fundamental law of culture. I don’t feel threatened by the idea that people think I’m wrong or that they think they can do better. Let’s see if they can!
- We have to offer people a different way of looking at things that isn’t just a critique. The critique is fine as far as it goes, but people need help. They need a hand and we have to be imaginative enough to be able to speak to that need.
- Most people are having their racial and ethnic differences given back to them by their national or ethnic leaders as a way of controlling them and channelling their hopes - their dreams and their aspirations - towards goals that are defined by an indifferent and self-serving oligarchy. People are anxious. They feel that they need something else apart from these sham certainties. Thats certainly what I hope.
