Leila Brännström

The Terms of Ethnoracial Equality: The Swedish Courts' Reading of Ethnic Affiliation, Race and Culture

This article initially accounts for the discussions concerning the notions ‘ethnic origin’ and ‘race’ that have taken place in the Swedish legislative context and places these within a wider European context. Next follows a mapping of the ways in which Swedish courts, in cases of alleged ethnic discrimination, read the notion of ‘ethnic affiliation’ – defined as ‘national or ethnic origin, skin colour, or other similar circumstance’ – and decide whether a statement or an act is related to it. The purpose, to borrow Michel Foucault’s words, is to ‘make visible precisely what is visible’. By bringing together, arranging and connecting what the courts have said about ‘ethnic affiliation’, the conclusions they have reached and the circumstances that they have ignored, three observations are made: (a) ethnic affiliation is treated as an authentic and stable personal individual attribute, (b) ethnic affiliation is seen as a question about body types and bloodlines solely and (c) discriminatory acts are connected to ‘ethnic affiliation’ only if related to visual appearance or accompanied by ‘incriminating words’. The article discusses and analyzes the significance and implications of these observations in engagement with theorists such as Barnor Hesse and David Theo Goldberg.

Gardens of justice

Before entering this special issue of Pólemos, let us ponder different possible interpretations of the garden metaphor. The garden metaphor primarily refers to concrete places and spaces where Justice – “the constant and perpetual will to render every one his due” (Justinian) – is implemented or implicated. Thus a court of Justice is the place where adjudication takes place. A court is defined as an enclosed space, situated either on the inside or on the outside of a building. The word “court” comes from Latin cohort, meaning a group of men, stemming from co+hort-, as in hortus, “garden.”1 Figuratively speaking, a court may signify a “garden of men.” Although a court may include a garden, a garden has quite different connotations than a court. Like a court, a garden is either in front of or behind a house,