Routledge Race, Whiteness, and Education (Critical Social Thought)

In the colorblind era of Post-Civil Rights America, race is often wrongly thought to be irrelevant or, at best, a problem of racist individuals rather than a systemic condition to be confronted.  Race, Whiteness, and Education interrupts this dangerous assumption by reaffirming a critical appreciation of the central role that race and racism still play in schools and society.  Author Zeus Leonardo’s conceptual engagement of race and whiteness asks questions about its origins, its maintenance, and envisages its future. This book does not simply rehearse exhausted ideas on the relationship among race, class, and education, but instead offers new ways of understanding how multiple social relations interact with one another and of their impact in thinking about a more genuine sense of multiculturalism. By asking fundamental questions about whiteness in schools and society, Race, Whiteness, and Education goes to the heart of race relations and the common sense understandings that sustain it, thus painting a clearer picture of the changing face of racism.   Review "The author boldly addressed an issue that most people wish to ignore …[Leonardo] succeeded in beginning a fresh discourse on race by asking hard questions while presenting an even more difficult reality accompanied with possible solutions."–Education Review, March 2010 "Leonardo’s major contribution…is his fresh analysis of race and race theory. He offers an in-depth analysis of race and critical theories and makes laudable efforts to broaden them and, when possible, to interrogate and reconcile competing ideas.…The book is an excellent demonstration of how CST can be used in analyses of race and a valuable asset for social theorists and educators."--Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2010, 39: 318-319 About the Author Zeus Leonardo is Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Studies in Education, at the  Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley.