Routledge Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial America (Routledge Series on Identity Politics)

The 2008 presidential election was celebrated around the world as a seminal moment in U.S. political and racial history. White liberals and other progressives framed the election through the prism of change, while previously acknowledged demographic changes were hastily heralded as the dawn of a "post-racial" America. However, by 2011, much of the post-election idealism had dissipated in the wake of an on-going economic and financial crisis, escalating wars in Afghanistan and Libya, and the rise of the right-wing Tea Party movement. By placing Obama in the historical context of U.S. race relations, this volume interrogates the idealized and progressive view of American society advanced by much of the mainstream literature on Obama. Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial America takes a careful look at the historical, cultural and political dimensions of race in the United States, using an interdisciplinary analysis that incorporates approaches from history, political science, and sociology. Each chapter addresses controversial issues such as whether Obama can be considered an African-American president, whether his presidency actually delivered the kind of deep-rooted changes that were initially prophesised, and whether Obama has abandoned his core African-American constituency in favour of projecting a race-neutral approach designed to maintain centrist support. Through cutting edge, critically informed, and cross-disciplinary analyses, this collection directly addresses the dimensions of race in American society through the lens of Obama’s election and presidency. Review "In this important, timely work, Mark Ledwidge, Kevern Verney, and Inderjeet Parmar have pulled together a remarkable collection of essays that examine various aspects of the ways that race continues to matter even after the re-election of the United States’ first black president. Despite insistence by many that Obama’s election ushered in a post-racial society, the essays in this book persuasively document that important work remains to be done in order for the US to reach its goals of liberty and justice for all." ―Adia Harvey Wingfield, Georgia State University "This timely and innovative collection of essays offers trenchant analysis of Obama’s election and presidency from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. With issues of race, politics, economics, and foreign policy to the fore, the volume’s sharp and at times provocative assessments of Obama’s place in US history and political culture reminds us that the domestic and global significance of his election victories and evaluations of his performance in office will be the subject of fierce debate for many years to come. Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial America is an excellent introduction to that analytical and ideological battleground." ―Brian Ward, Northumbria University "Arising from a powerful collaborative research network, this book provides us with a sobering perspective on the unfolding of the dreams and hopes generated by Obama’s election in 2008. It is rich in interdisciplinary perspectives that bring together diverse issues into the most coherent and comprehensive analysis yet of the Obama story so far." ―Stephen Burman, University of Sussex 'The book is firmly anchored in "identity politics" analyses and uses race and its implications for a changing electorate in the US as a framework for analysis... Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels." ―L. T. Grover, Southern University and A&M College, CHOICE About the Author Mark Ledwidge, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and American Studies, has been appointed Vacation Visiting Research Fellow at the prestigious Rothermere American Institute (RAI), University of Oxford. Dr Ledwidge, who is also a founding member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Network on the Presidency of Barack Obama, researches the relationship and impact of African-Americans on U.S. foreign policy. It