Critical race theory: an introduction

Introduction

Hallmark critical race theory themes

Legal storytelling and narrative analysis

Looking inward

Power and the shape of knowledge

Critiques and responses to criticism

Critical race theory today

Conclusion.

Foreword / Angela Harris

I. Introduction

What is critical race theory?

Early origins

Relationship to previous movements

Principal figures

Spin-off movements

Basic tenets of critical race theory

How much racism is there in the world?

II. Hallmark critical race theory themes

Interest convergence, material determinism, and racial realism

Revisionist history

Critique of liberalism

Structural determinism

Tools of thought and the dilemma of law reform

The empathic fallacy

Serving two masters

Race remedies law as a homeostatic device

III. Legal storytelling and narrative analysis

Opening a window onto ignored or alternative realities

Counterstorytelling

Cure for silencing

Storytelling in court

Storytelling on the defensive

IV. Looking inward

Intersectionality

Essentialism and Antiessentialism

Nationalism versus assimilation

Racial mixture

V. Power and the shape of knowledge

The Black-White binary

Critical White studies

Other developments : Latino and Asian critical thought, critical race feminism, LGBT theory

VI. Critiques and responses to criticism

"External" criticism

"Internal" criticism

The activist critiques

Critique of the intellectual heart of the movement

Critical race theory as a method of inquiry in new fields and countries

VII.Critical race theory today

Right-wing offensive

Front-burner issues

Race, class, welfare, and poverty

Policing and criminal justice

Hate speech, language rights, and school curricula

Affirmative Action and color blindness

Globalization and immigration

Voting rights

Identity

Critical empirical analysis

VIII. Conclusion

The future

A critical race agenda for the new century

Likely responses to the critical race theory movement

Critical race theory becomes the new civil rights orthodoxy

Critical race theory marginalized and ignored

Critical race theory analyzed but rejected

Partial incorporation.