Mixed Race Studies

The US presidency was not designed for a man of Obama’s racial background. Instead, it was conceived by and for White males, particularly privileged Christian, heterosexual White males. Hence, how might it feel to be the first African-American commander in chief of an imperial and White hegemonic state? Only Obama can answer this question. Only he knows, for example, how it feels to be undermined and called names by conservative Whites, including White males in the US Congress. Due to the social construction of race, which is linked to the lasting legacy of slavery, colonization, and White supremacy, Blacks are represented and treated as less intelligent and less competent than Whites.

Pierre Wilbert Orelus, Race, Power, and the Obama Legacy. (Oxford, New York: Routledge, 2015) 18.

Race, Power, and the Obama Legacy

Routledge
2015-10-09
174 pages
Hardback ISBN: 9781612058788
Paperback ISBN: 9781612058795

Pierre Wilbert Orelus, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction
New Mexico State University

This book critically examines Obama’s presidency and legacy, especially in regard to race, inequality, education, and political power. Orelus depicts an “interest convergence factor” that led many White liberals and the corporate media to help Obama get elected in 2008 and 2012. He assesses Obama’s political accomplishments, including parts of his domestic policies that support gay rights and equal pay for women. Special attention is given to Obama’s educational policies, like Race to the Top, and the effects of such policies on both the learning and academic outcome of students, particularly linguistically and culturally diverse students. In a race and power framework, Orelus relates domestic policies to the effects of Obama’s foreign policies on the lives of people in poorer countries, especially where innocent children and women have been killed by war and drone strikes authorized by Obama’s administration. The author invites readers to question and transcend the historical symbolism of Obama’s political victory in an effort to carefully examine and critique his actions as reflected through both his domestic and foreign policies.

Table of Contents

• Foreword by Mike Cole
• Introduction by Curry Malott
• 1. Race, Power, Obama’s Presidency and Legacy
• 2. Obama Dancing with Voucher Capitalism and White Hegemony
• 3. Obama Caught at the Crossroad of Black Masculinity and White Patriarchy
• 4. Obama: A Black Face of the US Imperialist and Neocolonial Power?
• 5. Obama Trapped in Professor Luis Gates’s and Sgt. Crowley’s Racial Storm
• 6. Beyond Obama’s Historical Symbolism: A Conversation with Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
• 7. Obama’s Foreign Policy and Its Implications for His legacy
• Afterword by Paul R. Carr

The Race Talk: Multiracialism, White Hegemony, and Identity Politics

Information Age Publishing
2012-10-25
144 pages
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61735-912-5
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-61735-913-2
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61735-914-9

Pierre W. Orelus, Assistant Professor of Education
New Mexico State University

Drawing on critical race theory, this book critically examines race through a mosaic lens pointing out various issues directly connected to it, such as racial identity politics, racism, multiracialism, interracial relationships, and the hegemony of whiteness. This book goes further to analyze the manner in which socially constructed racial stereotypes contribute to and are used to justify the poor socio-economic situation and marginalization of People of Color, particularly the poor ones. Designed for a broad range of readers, this book aims to open up democratic spaces for genuine discussions about racial issues.

Contents

• Acknowledgments
• 1. The Race Talk
• 2. Asserting Multiracialism: Beyond the Hegemony of Whiteness
• 3. Racial Identity Politics and Class Divide in The Age of Obamerica
• 4. Unpacking [Inter] Racial Relationships between Whites and People of Color
• 5. Examining the Intricacies of Interracial Relationships
• 6. Being Blacks and Browns in the Twenty-First Century: Challenges and Possibilities
• 7. On Being a Professor of Color: Battling Invisibility and Microaggression
• 8. Black Skin Could Speak: Resistant Narratives for Racial Justice
• 9. The Sociopolitical Weight of Race: A Critical Analysis of President Obama, Professor Gates, and Sgt. Crowley’s Racial Controversy
• References
• About the Author
• Index