2.1 Blog Post

     In order to analyze the beginning of international relations, it is important to look at how sociology, political theory, and law developed over time. According to W.E.B Du Bois, an American sociologist during the civil rights era, Du Bois critiqued the concept that international relations existed before sociology. De Bois expressed his frustration in “Of the Culture of White Folk” where he argued the inaccuracy of scientific and political theory to explain the presence of white supremacy. De Bois’s critique correctly shows how American society’s perception of the Black community has negatively impacted sociology and political theory by emphasizing historical evidence that shows how white men have continuously failed the nation with active racism. 

“A nation's religion is its life and as such white Christianity is a miserable failure.” (Du Bois). Du Bois’s argument was particularly insightful because he inferred that the ‘new religion’ was the white race and that European’s were abusing the power that comes along with that. The racist ideals set forth by European men as they created the New World, generated a sense of hierarchy within the individuals in this newly formed society. What Du Bois is trying to accomplish in his critique, is for all races and religions, specifically white, male Europeans, to accept a sense of responsibility for the state of inequality that formed over decades since the Slave Trade. Instead, Europeans have relied on ignorance and denial to keep their culture safe from persecution. However, Du Bois refuses to accept this: “this is not aberration nor insanity; this is Europe; this seeming terrible is the real soul of white culture – back of all culture, stripped and visible today.” (Du Bois)

    The quote above summed up the passage so accurately in my opinion. The concept that slavery and racism can not be eliminated nor ignored as a part of not only black culture but white culture as well. It was at the hands of white Europeans that created this world of slavery that Black Americans today are forced to deal with the repercussions of still. This is how Du Bois emphasizes that international relations is not a linear line of progression, but it is intertwined with other factors like sociology and political theory, and law, which are all complicated by human acts.