Description: In Acting White, two of America's leading scholars of race and the law, Devon Carbado and Mitu Gulati, argue that that racial judgments are based not just on phenotypic skin color differences but on performative differences-how a person conforms to behavior stereotypically associated with a certain race. In other words, we judge people based not only on the color of their skin but on the content of their identity performance. More specifically, we judge them on their racial performance: how they dress and style their hair, their institutional affiliations, who they date and/or marry, where they live, how they speak, and their overall mannerisms and demeanor. They close by proposing effective legal remedies for this pervasive and subtle prejudice, which plays a significant role in perpetuating racial inequality in America.
Review Quotes: "Courageous, poignant, and amusing too, Acting White? takes us deep into the way racial identity operates in everyday life. Carbado and Gulati focus on 'working identity' and explore the 'racial double binds' that blacks-and others too-confront today. Intersectionality figures prominently as well: gender and class dynamics receive serious attention. The treatment of Barack Obama's racial identity is particularly valuable. A brilliant analysis of how race is experienced: in the workplace, in the university, on TV, and in racial profiling, Acting White does some deep racial theorizing in a very approachable way."--Howard Winant, Professor of Sociology, UC Santa Barbara
"Now that you've picked it up, you would have to be crazy to set this book down. You know you're curious to learn whether and how you're Acting White. And you need to learn the performance secrets, and the performance expectations, of your friends, your colleagues, your boss. Acting White? brilliantly violates a taboo, by exposing something that secretly we all sometimes do."--Ian F. Haney-López, John H. Boalt Professor of Law, UC Berkeley
"Carbado and Gulati's compelling book is brilliant, eloquent, and accessible to non-legal scholars. It is reminiscent of the most provocative courtroom scenes in its arguments about the nuances and limitations of anti-discrimination law, especially with respect to intra-racial discrimination, a concept that is likely to be unfamiliar to many lay readers. Their analysis of President Obama's appointment of the first Latina to the Supreme court, Sonia Sotomayor, the dual constructions of Michelle Obama as both 'racially palatable' and 'racially unpalatable, ' and affirmative action admission decisions in higher education are riveting in light of contemporary diversity discourse."--Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women's Studies, Spelman College
"Provocative and thought provoking, Carbado and Gulati have written an essential book on the incredible complexities of defining race." --CHOICE
"Law students will like Acting White because it is an easy read and it can help those who need to know how to navigate law firms when identity issues come up. Readers wanting to know how to create a working identity they can live with and not feel as though they are selling out can refer to the authors' discussion of four stages of racial negotiation. This book has much to offer and is a must for any library." --Law Library Journal