Overview

How real is race? What is biological fact, what is fiction, and where does culture enter? What do we mean by a “colorblind” or “postracial” society, or when we say that race is a “social construction”? If race is an invention, can we eliminate it? This book, now in its second edition, employs an activity-oriented approach to address these questions and engage readers in unraveling—and rethinking—the contradictory messages we so often hear about race. The authors systematically cover the myth of race as biology and the reality of race as a cultural invention, drawing on biocultural and cross-cultural perspectives. They then extend the discussion to hot-button issues that arise in tandem with the concept of race, such as educational inequalities; slurs and racialized labels; and interracial relationships. In so doing, they shed light on the intricate, dynamic interplay among race, culture, and biology. For an online supplement to How Real Is Race? Second Edition, click here.

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9780759122734

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Reviews

How Real Is Race? explains race in a very accessible and commonsense way, and also draws on advanced knowledge from the social and biological sciences. Combining strong anti-racist commitments with deep respect for racial identity and difference, this book addresses such issues of colorblindness and affirmative action with grace and clarity. It will be a valuable teaching tool across the disciplines. Highly recommended for college and high school classrooms, How Real Is Race is the real thing! -- Howard Winant, director, Center for New Racial Studies, University of California Santa Barbara; author, The World Is A Ghetto: Race and Democracy Since World War II The second edition of How Real is Race? is a godsend for people struggling to talk about race inside and outside of schools. It engages big ideas about race and presents crucial facts clarifying classic confusions about biology and culture. The authors do a great service by summarizing the findings of countless studies into pithy and clear take-away points. When one's brain tires from endless engagements with racial worldviews that are not based in facts, the sentences in this book are mental and verbal life preservers. -- Mica Pollock, Department of Education Studies, University of California, San Diego; director, Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment, and Teaching Excellence (CREATE) This much-welcome second edition will continue to be an essential resource on race and racism for educators and learners at secondary and postsecondary levels. Everyone, from novices to specialists, will find that key questions about what race is and what it means are addressed accurately, thoroughly, and sensitively in a readable style. The text combines exceptional clarity in explaining complex issues with an abundance of ideas and resources for learning activities. The book complements the AAA RACE exhibit and PBS productions such as Race: The Power of an Illusion. I look forward to using-and assigning-this improved second edition in my courses. -- Kristina Wirtz, Western Michigan University; author, Performing Afro-Cuba: Image, Voice, Spectacle in the Making of Race and History An invaluable resource for educators who seek to make sense of the complex issues surrounding race and ethnicity in America today. For those who are afraid to touch the subject but understand that the issue is too important to ignore, this book provides useful insights on how to understand and respond to racial issues as they arise in the classroom and beyond. -- Pedro A. Noguera Ph.D, executive director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education; Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, New York University Race is not a biological reality but it is a cultural reality, resulting in disparities in residence patterns, wealth distribution, health care, employment, the justice system, education, and many other aspects of our everyday lives. The authors of How Real is Race? explain how this is possible, and how it makes a difference in the way we deal with racism in the United States. They offer readers an exceptional way to understand and deal with race-related issues, including racism, not from a reactive stance but rather in a proactive fashion. -- Robert W. Sussman, Washington University in St. Louis This new edition of How Real is Race appears at an important conjuncture in U.S. history. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the first black president and reelected for a second term in 2012, suggesting to some that racism has been eliminated. Yet the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the incidence of racist violence is at an all-time high. Mukhopadhyay, Henze and Moses provide an in-depth discussion of race that allows the reader to understand this paradox. As they build their finely grained argument that race is not biologically real, but has been culturally constructed, they gently lead the reader through an analysis of human history and biology, kinship, social groups, language, stratification, classification and many other interesting topics. Their summary of key conceptual points and presentation of activities make this a most valuable teaching tool. No teacher should be without it! -- Leith Mullings, former president, American Anthropological Association, 2011-2013; Distinguished Professor, Graduate Center at City University of New York

Author Information

Carol C. Mukhopadhyay (professor emerita of anthropology, San Jose State University) has 40 years of experience teaching, consulting, researching, and publishing on issues of cultural diversity and education related to race, ethnicity and gender, in both the United States and India. She is a key advisor for the American Anthropological Association's public information project, RACE. Rosemary Henze (professor of linguistics and language development, San Jose State University) has a background in education, anthropology, and linguistics, and has been an ESL teacher. She worked with K-12 schools for 14 years as a consultant, researcher, and curriculum designer on bilingual, multicultural, and antiracist education and has researched education in Greece, Alaska, Hawaii, and Nicaragua. Yolanda T. Moses (professor of anthropology and Associate Vice Chancellor for Excellence, Diversity and Equity, University of California, Riverside) has spent more than 25 years researching, writing, and teaching in the United States, the Caribbean, South Africa, and Brazil. She has held national leadership roles in the American Anthropological Association, City College of New York (CUNY), and American Association of Higher Education and chairs the National Advisory Board for the American Anthropological Association's Understanding Race and Human Variation project (RACE).

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