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Critical Ethnic Studies Editorial Collective, Critical Ethnic Studies: A Reader. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2016. 576 pages. ISBN 978-0-8223-6127-5. $31.95 USD paperback.
As a scholarly specialty, the intellectual roots of ethnic studies lie in the cultural and political upheavals of the 1960s and 70s when Western scholars began to challenge what they considered to be racist and imperialist portrayals of racial and cultural minorities. The initial steps in this process were based on questioning Judeo-Christian worldviews and how these perceptions facilitated the domination and marginalization of racial, religious, and gender minorities as European powers assumed control over newly 'discovered' lands. These initial critiques were followed by revisionist scholarship that sought to create new narratives using ethnohistorical approaches that facilitated the analysis of data from culturally-appropriate perspectives. Increased educational opportunities for minorities also resulted in a critical mass of intellectuals who were able to conduct research within their own communities and disseminate the data to the public in a culturally-sensitive manner.
Over the past fifty years, the field has evolved substantially. The consequences of technological advances and globalization - mass migrations of people, increased conflicts, and environmental degradation, to name just a few - have also resulted in revisiting the idea of ethnic studies to reflect the exploding number...