Critical Race Theory in England

Critical Race Theory (CRT) explains and challenges the persistence of racial discrimination throughout the world today, addressing issues such as racism, post-colonialism and systems of apartheid. Despite claims we live in a post-racial era, equality laws are under threat in the UK and evidence of racism persists in life and work.

This collection is the result of ongoing work in this area by a group of UK based academics: the CRT in the UK discussion group, convened by Namita Chakrabarty, John Preston and Lorna Roberts. The aim of this book is to examine the practical application of CRT within a specifically English context. Encompassing a range of fields, from education to civil defense, it considers the tools and techniques of CRT (including CRT feminist thought), from counter-narrative to the role of political positioning, but above all it analyzes the workings of on-going racism within English institutions and structures.

Key aspects of post- 9/11 culture are also critiqued and explored, including an analysis of Islamophobia and antiracism, how counter-terror measures may reinforce racist beliefs, the role of race and the BME academic, and the manipulation of race in debates surrounding education and class. These new perspectives offer greater insight into the crucial area of race without which any understanding of 21^st century England is incomplete.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Race, Ethnicity and Education.

Namita Chakrabarty is a tutor in Creative Writing at Ruskin College, Oxford, UK. Namita worked on both the creative and business sides of the entertainment industry before moving into teaching drama and then lecturing in higher education. Her creative practice involves recorded and live performance besides creative and critical writing, exploring themes of race, sexuality and culture. Recent writing is included in New Writing Dundee (2012) and in RIDE: the Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance (2011). Namita is co-convenor of the Critical Race Theory in the UK discussion group.

John Preston is Professor of Education in the Cass School of Education and Communities, University of East London, UK. He is the author of Whiteness and Class in Education (2007) and the co-editor of Intersectionality and Race in Education (2012, with Kalwant Bhopal). He has written and published widely on whiteness studies, education and disaster pedagogy.

Lorna Roberts is a Research Fellow in the Education and Social Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Her research interests lie in the area of race, ethnicity and education, and she has been involved in several funded research projects. Lorna organized the first ever Critical Race Theory seminar in the UK, held at MMU and was instrumental in establishing the UK based Critical Race Theory discussion Group with colleagues Namita Chakrabarty and John Preston.