THE LITTLE PRINCE
AND THE FIVE PLANETS
OF RACISM
Paris: L’Harmattan, 2025
This book tackles the issue of ‘race’ in an unconventional way. It illustrates the complexity of racial prejudice by mixing the viewpoints of children and adults. It is thus written as both a fable and an essay.
It puts forward several arguments. First, it suggests that racism has five main dimensions – historical, philosophical, scientific, legal and economic – and that these are regularly mobilized to rationalize something (the racial prejudice) which is inherently irrational.
The book also underlines the ‘banality of racism’, a phenomenon that stems from the distrust for others and encourages forms of inertia that – as Hannah Arendt noted – are the best way to ‘banalize’ and normalize evil. The most fanciful classifications of ‘race’ – such as those formulated in apartheid-era South Africa, when poor Chinese were legally considered ‘yellows’ while wealthy Japanese were classified as ‘honorary whites’– are one example. Third, the book shows that racial discrimination is internalized and accepted by society from childhood: since racist attitudes are learned early, they are very difficult to combat or even to identify.
Above all, the book suggests that racism is convenient: one does not need to know each individual, only the characteristics of the group to which he or she is thought to belong. The book concludes in favour of a neglected right of children: the right to be free from racism.
E-books are available in English and French [password required].
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Learning from Children
- First Planet: The Historian
- Second Planet: The Philosopher
- Third Planet: The Scientist
- Fourth Planet: The Lawyer
- Fifth Planet: The Politician and The Economist
- Conclusion: Freeing Children from Racism
- Bibliography
Details
- Format: Hardcover and E-Book
- Published: April 2025
- Pages: 79
- Size: 9.2 x 6.1 inches
- ISBN: 9780198733591
- Dust Jacket Download: PDF
- Publisher’s Website: here
