Interrogating Race and Racism

It is a common misconception that, in the contemporary world, racism has been somehow defeated, pushed to the boundaries of acceptable social behaviour. In fact, racism has taken on a subtler guise in the ways it is expressed. This ambiguity has made racism more insidious than it once was. Interrogating Race and Racism examines the subject of racism with a view to uncovering the many ways in which it exists today.

As a subject with so many permutations, racism is necessarily examined from a multidisciplinary perspective in this collection, featuring authors from a variety of backgrounds. Among the specific topics discussed are border politics and the search for asylum, exclusionary policies, and the struggle for substantive citizenship. The collection also features extended discussion of racism in the workplace, an illuminating and important sequence that reveals the institutionalization of racist hiring procedures despite legislation to curb such practices.

With the heightening of tensions in the post 9/11 period and a resurgence of racist attitudes taking place, Interrogating Race and Racism is a timely analysis of cultural alienation and the ways in which it impacts upon our lives.

Vijay Agnew is a professor in the Division of Social Science at York University, and was the director of the Center for Feminist Research from 2001 to 2006.