The book, Racecraft: The soul of Inequality in American Life, by Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields published in 2014 by Verso, addresses a very pertinent issue in the American context, perception of racial inequality. The book is organized into 8b chapters each drawing from a collection of material published or presented between 1989 to 2003, and new materials specifically designed for the book to develop a behind the scene knowledge of how the conceptualization of race assists in obscuring the reality about inequality in the American context. The book depicts how the misconception of race helped to strip the masses the language they needed to measure and correct their situation. In the author’s note, attention is drawn to the term Afro-American as having deep roots in the American literary English. The theme of the book develops from varied perceptions of the meaning of the terms.
The authors of Racecraft, Karen E. Fields, and Barbara J. Fields (the two are academics and sisters, Karen a sociologist and Barbara a historian) present the book in a manner that depicts lived experiences of many Americans. Their approach deviates from the norm where average writers on race tend to draw a line around one group of people on matters of politics or sociology, preferring to base their reasoning on what is inside versus what is outside. On the contrary, Racecraft undertakes a major exploration of race as chimeric concept that underwent pervasive and continuous reinvention and redeployment in America without drawing lines. Simply put, the book illustrates how inequality is phenomenon with historical associations to all races. The book achieves the difficult fete on unbiased approach by describing the circles drawn by others. The Fields wrote that “Racism is first and foremost a social practice, which means that it is an action and a rationale for action, or both at once” (19). What is implied here is that racism is not limited to a particular group, and has not genetic or scientific basis, hence looking at it from such a lens misinforms leading to the hierarchical structures described in the book.
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From the onset in the author’s note, lucidity, elegance, insight, friendliness, inclusiveness, and a keen sense of history are portrayed in a manner that sets the tone of the book. Each chapter addresses a specific issue of interest in a way that links to the main theme. By weaving aspects of history into the narrative, the authors managed to present the concept of racism from a neutral perspective.
Part 2: Discussion
The book, Racecraft, disrupts a status quo by contesting the long held notion that racism was imbued in the American society to advance white supremacy. How will a person who has long known that racism was perpetrated only towards non-whites, feel on reading the book and realizing that whites were also victims of the heinous practice? The misconception of inequality in regards to racism is the concept that the book attempts to address. For instance, the authors criticize the American history for teaching students that black people were enslaved because of their race. The book advances the argument that slavery was not dependent on phenotypic segregation of victims, but rather profits desires of the perpetrators whose were themselves oblivious of slaves’ racial purity or their own racial impurity.
The book is an important resource in the contemporary society because it paints a different picture of what the American society understands about racism and inequality. In an era where fighting all forms of discrimination and prejudices is prioritized at all levels, the book plays a key role in understanding the historical biases that led to what is known as racism today.
References
Fields, K. E., & Fields, B. J. (2014). Racecraft: The soul of inequality in American life . Verso Trade.
