Race Theory: An Introduction

We're going to start off with a walk through race theory. This will be no leisurely stroll, as the theory has its roots in challenging racism in institutional structures of North America - schools and the law. Critical race theory (CRT) examines the relationships that exist between different ‘races’: the nature of those relationships and the interactions that compose them (Isaksen, 2000). These relationships are both external and internal, and attempting to dig deeper into them quickly becomes quite complex. Yet, this is exactly what CRT aims to do.

For external relationships, CRT looks at every-day interactions between individuals of different races, institutions and individuals, and different ethnic groups as wholes. Like many critical theories, it believes that there are more to actions and words than meet the eye, but also more than what individuals might knowingly intend or portray with their own actions and conversations. Instead, these interactions are viewed as charged with age-old power struggles. In these examinations, a few key questions are formed: How do individuals of different races interact, especially if there has been little exposure to the “Other”? How are these interactions viewed and dealt with by individuals of the dominant race, especially considering a history of colonization? Questions like these are addressed through some of the main ideas of race theory: Otherness and Micro-Aggressions.

For more internal relationships, the examinations are similar, but focus on the identities that shape the external interactions. To what extent is race or ethnicity a social construction? To what extent does race, social construction or not, shape an individual's identity? What about (essential) group identity? We'll look at this in our post on Whiteness, and bell hooks, as one of the most important theologians in Race Theory history. We'll also be looking at Derrick Bell, the man behind the CRT movement.