George J. Sefa Dei

Racists Beware: Uncovering Racial Politics in Contemporary Society George J. Sefa Dei

With admirable clarity and directness, George Dei exposes the tendency towards the racial re-feudalization of the contemporary public sphere in Canada and, by association, other post-industrial societies. He points to the enormous opportunity costs imposed on racial minorities in the new millennium as a consequence. In RACISTS BEWARE: UNCOVERING RACIAL POLITICS IN THE POSTMODERN SOCIETY, Dei identifies and subjects to close scrutiny the new race-bending logics of what he calls "postmodern" societies in which the dwellers of the suburbs and members of the itinerant white professional middle class (the great beneficiaries of late capitalism and neoliberalization of the economy) now have become the new social plaintiff turning the complaint of racial inequality and discrimination on the heads of those most oppressed. If Gayatri Spivak asks "Can the subaltern speak?" then Dei brilliantly poses the question: "When will Anglo-dominant groups, even critical ones, ever listen?" This book is likely to provoke and influence discussion on racial antagonism for a long, long time to come. Cameron McCarthy Professor and University Scholar, Department of Educational Policy Studies and the Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois at Urbana RACISTS BEWARE is a manifesto for those who are seeking "justice for all" in education and society. With hard-driving clarity, elegance of thought and precise language, George Dei illuminates the complexities and current contradictions of anti-racist theorizing and practice. There is hope and spiritual renewal in the struggle to overcome systemic racism and the intersecting oppressions of our times. Dr. Joyce King Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair of Urban Teaching, learning, and leadership at Georgia State University