Matrix of Race

This text for race and ethnic relations courses is written by three leading scholars and reflects a very contemporary way of looking at race, minorities, and intergroup relations. Older texts use a "categorical" approach and feature a series of chapters that examine one minority group at a time (African Americans, Latino/a Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, etc.). Newer texts designed within the last 5-10 years are more likely to be organized topically, discuss various racial and ethnic minorities within the context of these topics, and use the most current theories and perspectives in this field. The Matrix of Race is built around these core ideas: -Race is a both a social construction and a social institution -Race is intersectional--it is embedded within other statuses (such as gender, social class, sexuality) -Concepts of race change over time and as we move from one physical location to another -We are all active agents in upholding, reproducing, or resisting constructions of race The chapters in Part I introduce basic concepts about race and racism, describe the Matrix approach to studying race, and narrate the history of race in the Americas from its colonial beginnings to the early founding of the United States. Part II is a series of chapters that examine how race operates within the major institutions that structure our social lives: families, the legal and criminal justice system, work and the economy, the health care system, education, media, sports, and the military. In each chapter in Part II, the authors resume the historical narrative about race and examine that institution from the Matrix perspective. Borrowing from Lee Anne Bell's popularStorytelling for Social Justice book, the authors tell four different kinds of "stories" about race throughout that give personal voices to ideas: -Stock stories told by the dominant group and encoded in law, policy, history, and culture -Concealed stories that look critically at stock stories and offer a different understanding of race -Resistance stories that show individuals struggling to challenge and overturn stock stories -Transforming stories that offer a new vision of racial justice and social change.