Contents

Foreword by Angela Harris

Preface to the Third Edition

Acknowledgments

I. Introduction

A. What Is Critical Race Theory?

B. Early Origins

C. Relationship to Previous Movements

D. Principal Figures

E. Spin-Off Movements

F. Basic Tenets of Critical Race Theory

G. How Much Racism Is There in the World?

H. Organization of This Book

Questions and Comments for Chapter I

Suggested Readings

II. Hallmark Critical Race Theory Themes

A. Interest Convergence, Material Determinism, and Racial Realism

B. Revisionist History

C. Critique of Liberalism

D. Structural Determinism

1. Tools of Thought and the Dilemma of Law Reform

2. The Empathic Fallacy

Classroom Exercise

3. Serving Two Masters

Classroom Exercise

4. Race Remedies Law as a Homeostatic Device

Questions and Comments for Chapter II

Suggested Readings

III. Legal Storytelling and Narrative Analysis

A. Opening a Window onto Ignored or Alternative Realities

B. Counterstorytelling

C. Cure for Silencing

D. Storytelling in Court

E. Storytelling on the Defensive

Questions and Comments for Chapter III

Suggested Readings

IV. Looking Inward

A. Intersectionality

B. Essentialism and Antiessentialism

C. Nationalism versus Assimilation

Classroom Exercise

D. Racial Mixture

Questions and Comments for Chapter IV

Suggested Readings

V. Power and the Shape of Knowledge

A. The Black-White Binary

B. Critical White Studies

Classroom Exercise

C. Other Developments: Latino and Asian Critical Thought, Critical Race Feminism, LGBT Theory

Questions and Comments for Chapter V

Suggested Readings

VI. Critiques and Responses to Criticism

A. “External” Criticism

B. “Internal” Criticism

1. The Activist Critiques

2. Critique of the Intellectual Heart of the Movement

C. Critical Race Theory as a Method of Inquiry in New Fields and Countries

Classroom Exercise

Questions and Comments for Chapter VI

Suggested Readings

VII. Critical Race Theory Today

A. Right-Wing Offensive

B. Front-Burner Issues

1. Race, Class, Welfare, and Poverty

2. Policing and Criminal Justice

3. Hate Speech, Language Rights, and School Curricula

4. Affirmative Action and Color Blindness

5. Globalization and Immigration

6. Voting Rights

C. Identity

Classroom Exercise

D. Critical Empirical Analysis

Questions and Comments for Chapter VII

Suggested Readings

VIII. Conclusion

A. The Future

B. A Critical Race Agenda for the New Century

C. Likely Responses to the Critical Race Theory Movement

1. Critical Race Theory Becomes the New Civil Rights Orthodoxy

2. Critical Race Theory Marginalized and Ignored

3. Critical Race Theory Analyzed but Rejected

4. Partial Incorporation

Classroom Exercise

Questions and Comments for Chapter VIII

Suggested Readings

Glossary of Terms

Index

About the Authors