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Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader. Les Back and John Solomos, eds. New York: Routledge. 2000. 646 pages. $29.95.
The editors of Theories have developed the text to "provide for students and the general reader a collection that introduces them to the key arenas around which theoretical debates have been conducted" (p. 2) and to "show the diversity of theoretical and empirical work that has been evident in this field" (p. 3). The authors want this text to be accessible to a wide audience. They want to show both interdisciplinary attempts to address the central arguments in the area of race and racism, and to look carefully at emerging trends.
Theories starts with a lengthy overview of the key arguments presented in each text section. The text body is then divided into six parts, corresponding to the key conceptual issues in the field today: origins and transformations of race; sociology, race and social theory; racism and antisemitism; colonialism, race and the "other;" feminism, difference and identity; changing boundaries and spaces. Each part is preceded by a brief statement that summarizes the ideas from previous sections and introduces the key issues for the next part of the text. At the conclusion of each introductory summary, the editors list questions designed to prompt discussion and critical thinking about the topics contained in the articles that follow.
The text's focus, which is to develop a deeper awareness of the developments in the field and to arrange those debates analytically for greater clarity, is an ambitious undertaking. The number of pages alone suggests a monumental task, and the editors have done a commendable job of organizing and clarifying ideas, and placing them within an analytic structure. Is it too ambitious for this subject matter? Yes and no.
So, have the editors succeeded? First, they do indeed provide organizational clarity of the theories of race and racism. The editors develop the analytic theme of the text along a historical continuum of ideas. By arranging the articles to begin at...