Race in Post-racial Europe

Stefanie C. Boulila is an associated expert at the Center for Intersectional Justice.

As Europe is witnessing a new era of racial denial, Boulila (Lucerne Univ. of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland) provides valuable insights into European gender and racial inequalities that persist despite claims that they no longer exist. In her rigorous, thoughtful, and witty analysis, she questions how race operates in European democracies—especially with respect to sexual preferences. The author convincingly argues that the denial of "race" as a category has made it almost impossible to account for how "race" is used as a mechanism for social and political control. As she astutely observes, it is European "liberals" who have called for the implementation of tougher rules for immigrants and an end to multiculturalism. Particularly notable are chapter 1 ("Contesting European Racial Denial"), which explores the history of race denial in Europe; chapter 3 ("Racing Post-feminism"), which examines the political grammar of post-racialism and post-feminism in Europe; and chapter 7 ("But We Are All Different! Diversity and the Depoliticization of Anti-Racism"), which looks at the appeal of diversity in post-racial Europe. Boulila's final chapter, "Resisting Intersectionality," posits that intersectionality is a dangerous idea because it would necessitate changes to basic political and epistemological assumptions. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

• Introducing What Has Been Left BehindPart I: Above and Beyond1 Contesting European Racial Denial2 Theorising Europe: Race, Gender and the Making of ModernityPart II: Ambiguous Presence3 Racing Post-feminism4 Desiring the Exotic: Racialized Women in Post-feminist Sexual Culture5 Treacherous Mothers, Terrorist Daughters: Migrant Women as ThreatsPart III: Liberal Resistances6 Race in Post-homophobic Europe7 But We Are All Different! Diversity and the Depoliticization of Anti-Racism8 Resisting Intersectionality