Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial America

The 2008 presidential election was celebrated around the world as a seminal moment in U.S. political and racial history. White liberals and other progressives framed the election through the prism of change, while previously acknowledged demographic changes were hastily heralded as the dawn of a "post-racial" America. However, by 2011, much of the post-election idealism had dissipated in the wake of an on-going economic and financial crisis, escalating wars in Afghanistan and Libya, and the rise of the right-wing Tea Party movement.

By placing Obama in the historical context of U.S. race relations, this edited book interrogates the idealized and progressive view of American society advanced by much of the mainstream literature on Obama. Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial America takes a careful look at the historical, cultural and political dimensions of race in the United States, using an interdisciplinary analysis that incorporates approaches from history, political science, and sociology. Each chapter addresses controversial issues such as whether Obama can be considered an African-American president, whether his presidency actually delivered the kind of deep-rooted changes that were initially prophesised, and whether Obama has abandoned his core African-American constituency in favour of projecting a race-neutral approach designed to maintain centrist support.

Through cutting edge, critically informed, and cross-disciplinary analyses, this collection directly addresses the dimensions of race in American society through the lens of Obama’s election and presidency.

Mark Ledwidge, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and American Studies, has been appointed Vacation Visiting Research Fellow at the prestigious Rothermere American Institute (RAI), University of Oxford. Dr Ledwidge, who is also a founding member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Network on the Presidency of Barack Obama, researches the relationship and impact of African-Americans on U.S. foreign policy. It provides a unique insight into the effect race and ethnicity has had upon U.S. foreign policy, as well as highlighting how race has been relatively excluded from mainstream theories in international relations.

Kevern Verney is a Professor in American History and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Edge Hill University in the United Kingdom. Together with Professor Inderjeet Parmar and Dr Mark Ledwidge he is currently a co-organizer of the Barack Obama Research Network funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Other Network partners include the University of Warwick and the University of Middleburg in the Netherlands.

Inderjeet Parmar currently teaches in the Department of International Politics at City University London, having for the previous 21 years taught at the University of Manchester. His latest book, Foundations of the American Century: Ford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller Foundations in the Rise of American Power was published in 2012 by Columbia University Press. He is President of the British International Studies Association and Chair of the Obama Research Network.