Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Critical Race Theory (CRT) has, somewhat ironically, found itself in the conservative firing line of an ever-burgeoning "culture war" that is polarising communities, shaping legislation and swaying elections.What was previously a relatively unknown theoretical framework, that had little purchase beyond the social science departments of academia is now frequently drawn upon, by rightwing politicians, journalists, think-tanks and media outlets, as a polemical soundbite, to stymie any discussions or debates vis-à-vis the permanence of structural racism.Ever since late 2020, CRT has extended its reach into the public domain by predominantly functioning as an empty signifier and acquiring numerous (yet disparaging) connotations including "wokery", "cancel culture", and "reverse racism".But why?This is what David Theo Goldberg seeks to uncover in The War on Critical Race Theory.This book comprises three substantive parts, that are each, constituted by a number of short chapters.The first substantive part (principles and principals) illuminates the individuals and institutions that are orchestrating the vociferous attacks against CRT, and what the proponents and practitioners actually take CRT to represent; the second part (fabrications) explicates what CRT's opposers think they are opposing and their motivations behind doing so; and the third (the politics of "CRT") examines the envisioned impacts of these attacks alongside the counters and contestations to them.In short, the raison d'etre of this book is to expose who is systematically targeting CRT, what they are saying about it and why.Or as Goldberg notes, "the politics at play in this manufactured set of campaigns" (p.ix).The opening part introduces readers to the provocateurs responsible for coordinating and amplifying the incendiary (mis)representations against CRT.Goldberg identifies Christopher Rufo, an American conservative activist, as spearheading the campaign against CRT.Rufo's many claims such as that CRT was a "cult indoctrination" that had "pervaded every institution in the federal government", which subsequently engineered a moral panic, would have not been so widespread without the resourcing and platforming of institutions like the Heritage Foundation and City Journal who frequently published dismissive articles, by Rufo, about CRT.It was not, however, until the dwindling days of President Donald Trump's time in the White House that Rufo's campaign was ignited and
Source: ReOrient
Author: Izram Chaudry
Institution: University of Bradford
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4403569720