October 25, 2012
Brooklyn Museum
Karen Fields, Barbara Fields, and Adolph Reed in Conversation at the Brooklyn Museum
On Thursday, October 25th, we invite you to join Karen Fields, Barbara Fields, and Adolph Reed in a conversation about inequality, class, and false paradigms in American politics at the Brooklyn Museum.
In their incisive and daring new book Racecraft: The Soul of American Inequality, a detailed transdisciplinary analysis of how racism has come to operate in America, sisters Karen Fields and Barbara Fields tackle the myth of the "post racial" era. Racecraft's central metaphor is that race functions today similarly to the ways in which witchcraft once operated: formally, society agrees that race may be an illusion and that racism is bad, yet it continues to exert a spell-like influence over us, structuring nearly all of our every day experiences.
Drawing on years of scholarly research, the Fields approach their subject with ingenuity and wit, tracing a narrative analysis through America's history by way of their individual expertise in history and sociology.
Joining them at the Brooklyn Museum is political theorist Adolph Reed Jr., accomplished labor historian, frequent contributor to The Progressive and The Nation, and author of several books including Class Notes: Posing as Politics and Other Thoughts on the American Scene and Stirrings in the Jug.
In their incisive and daring new book Racecraft: The Soul of American Inequality, a detailed transdisciplinary analysis of how racism has come to operate in America, sisters Karen Fields and Barbara Fields tackle the myth of the "post racial" era. Racecraft's central metaphor is that race functions today similarly to the ways in which witchcraft once operated: formally, society agrees that race may be an illusion and that racism is bad, yet it continues to exert a spell-like influence over us, structuring nearly all of our every day experiences.
Drawing on years of scholarly research, the Fields approach their subject with ingenuity and wit, tracing a narrative analysis through America's history by way of their individual expertise in history and sociology.
Joining them at the Brooklyn Museum is political theorist Adolph Reed Jr., accomplished labor historian, frequent contributor to The Progressive and The Nation, and author of several books including Class Notes: Posing as Politics and Other Thoughts on the American Scene and Stirrings in the Jug.
7.00pm
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Martha A. & Robert S. Rubin Pavilion, 1st Fl.
Brooklyn, NY 11238-6052 United States of America
Books
Blog
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Prying open racial politics in America
Tonight at the Brooklyn Museum, Racecraft authors Karen Fields and Barbara Fields converse with Adolph Reed about inequality, class, and the distorted racial paradigms of American political life. The celebrated Fields sisters' new book, published this month, asks whether racism has bewitched Americans into misunderstanding inequality in our country. Their argument is a complex one, involving years of assiduous research and close collaboration, so we're pleased to have Mr. Reed present to tease the nuances from their perspective.
Of course, their book comes at a particularly important moment as we careen towards election day and, inevitably, the conversations about Obama lean not towards drone warfare, Libya, or Wall Street bailouts but continue to idle on the meaning of the president's race.
Fortunately both of Racecraft's authors and Adolph Reed have garnered reputations as cogent political analysts, each focusing in their way on the implications of a post-Obama, though certainly not post-racial, America. As the news cycle spins its wheels today a quick survey confirms what we've known all along: that whether they are claims of colorblindness, accusations of playing the race card, or questions of "how black" or "not black enough" the democratic nominee appeared during the recent debates, the discussion of the president's racial identity is never more than an arm's length from the political media machine.
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