Relational Formations of Race

"These fine scholars argue persuasively that the next new direction in the field of Ethnic Studies should be to study race relationally: an old idea made new again by building on the robust scholarship produced in comparative and transnational ethnic studies during the past three decades or so."--Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Professor of History, American Studies, and Ethnic Studies, Brown University "Studying race as a relational formation is more than powerful--it is necessary. This important gathering of essays challenges even the most radical thinkers on race to repattern the ways we understand social justice, human rights, and struggles that form in mutual action toward a common good. Together, these essays refuse the dominance of whiteness in studies and enactments of racial relations, generating new theories and conversations that reveal historic and powerful connections among freedom seekers across the globe."--Gaye Theresa Johnson, author of Spaces of Conflict, Sounds of Solidarity and coeditor of Futures of Black Radicalism " Studying Race Relationally demonstrates beautifully the insights produced by examining systems of race alongside each other. This generative, exciting volume offers essential contributions to critical Ethnic Studies and American Studies."--Emily K. Hobson, author of Lavender and Red: Liberation and Solidarity in the Gay and Lesbian Left "What if we could think about race and racism differently? Go beyond thinking about race mainly in terms of whiteness and its 'others'? Dispense with fatuous denunciatoions of 'groupism' and recognize the centrality of racialization in the construction of our world? In Relational Formations of Race, some of our most profound race theorists do just that. They explore how racial identities and racialized groups interact and overlap. They show how racial formation involves permanent conflict with the U.S. empire-state and simultaneously constitutes that state. Exclusion and inclusion; conquest and social control; struggles over racialized labor, gender, migration, and, indeed, U.S. imperialism and 'nation-building'--all are reconceptualized here. Our understanding of race and racism is both deepened and broadened by this exceptional book, which will certainly become a central text across the disciplines. A tour de force and a must for course adoption!"--Howard Winant, coauthor of Racial Formation in the United States "This is a must-read for everyone in American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Africana Studies, and, indeed, for anyone who wants to understand how and why difference and disadvantage are created and perpetuated, and how we are all, in some way, complicit in this creation and perpetuation. It is destined to become a big-hearted model of scholarly praxis on race, a core text for the next generation of young scholars who recognize that activism and deeper understanding are joined at the hip."--Matthew Pratt Guterl, author of Josephine Baker and the Rainbow Tribe