Develops an alternative framework for describing and explaining African American politics and the American political system and applies it to a number of case studies. Few scholars have influenced the development of the study of black politics as much as Mack H. Jones. Through his writings one can trace the emergence, evolution, and maturation of the scientific study of the field. Knowledge, Power, and Black Politics brings together difficult-to-find and out-of-print essays by this important figure. In the first part of this volume Jones demonstrates how American social science creates a misleading caricature of African American life, one that can only lead to misguided public policies. He offers an alternative frame of reference, the dominant-subordinate group model, and argues that it offers greater descriptive insights and prescriptive utility for those interested in understanding politics internal to the African American community. The framework established in the first section is used to examine a broad range of topics such as the history of black politics from the period of enslavement to the modern era and the dynamics of the civil rights movement, as well as a range of contentious public policy issues, including public welfare, affirmative action, the black underclass, racism and multiculturalism, the black conservative movement, deracialization, presidential politics, and US foreign policy toward developing countries. “For more than four decades, Mack H. Jones’s work has been pivotal in directing the scope of black politics. Although his work is widely cited, never before have his seminal writings been compiled in one volume. Taken together as a whole they provide a guidebook to the field and present a powerful commentary on black politics in the current era. With force and clarity, Jones trains his sights on the most significant issues of epistemology, historical developments, policy initiatives, and political figures and groups. His clarity of vision on the instrumental uses of knowledge to advance the principle of freedom drives his incisive analysis, intellectual rigor, and, most of all, fearlessness. We have much to continue to learn from the work assembled in this collection.” — Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd, author of Gender, Race, and Nationalism in Contemporary Black Politics

A thought-provoking analysis of how the acquisition and utilization of information has determined the course of history over the past five centuries and shaped the world as we know it todaydiv /DIV

In spite of the double burden of racial and gender discrimination, African-American women have developed a rich intellectual tradition that is not widely known. In Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins explores the words and ideas of Black feminist intellectuals as well as those African-American women outside academe. She provides an interpretive framework for the work of such prominent Black feminist thinkers as Angela Davis, bell hooks, Alice Walker, and Audre Lorde. The result is a superbly crafted book that provides the first synthetic overview of Black feminist thought.

Sonenshein reaches deep into the past of the city of Los Angeles and carries through to the dramatic events that have recently received global attention--the Rodney King beating and the uprising in South-Central L.A. The author shows how "crossover" politics and racial violence coexist in the paradoxical world of urban America.

Academic freedom rests on a shared belief that the production of knowledge advances the common good. In an era of education budget cuts, wealthy donors intervening in university decisions, and right-wing groups threatening dissenters, scholars cannot expect that those in power will value their work. Can academic freedom survive in this environment—and must we rearticulate what academic freedom is in order to defend it? This book presents a series of essays by the renowned historian Joan Wallach Scott that explore the history and theory of free inquiry and its value today. Scott considers the contradictions in the concept of academic freedom. She examines the relationship between state power and higher education; the differences between the First Amendment right of free speech and the guarantee of academic freedom; and, in response to recent campus controversies, the politics of civility. The book concludes with an interview conducted by Bill Moyers in which Scott discusses the personal experiences that have informed her views. Academic freedom is an aspiration, Scott holds: its implementation always falls short of its promise, but it is essential as an ideal of ethical practice. Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom is both a nuanced reflection on the tensions within a cherished concept and a strong defense of the importance of critical scholarship to safeguard democracy against the anti-intellectualism of figures from Joseph McCarthy to Donald Trump.

ÔChina threat or China opportunity, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. Western imaginations of China come under close scrutiny in this book, in a new, philosophical depth seldom attempted before. Dr Pan displays in full force his analytical skills and his mastery of knowledge, both East and West. Contrary to conventional approaches, he takes a step back to exercise a powerful reflective process to watch the China watchers, with illuminating results. Dr PanÕs book deserves wide and careful reading.Õ Ð Professor Gerald Chan, University of Auckland, New Zealand ÔThe rise of China is largely seen as either a threat or an opportunity. Chengxin Pan exposes both of these representations as expressions of Western fears and desires for certainty and predictability. His call for a more reflective and culturally sensitive understanding of China offers an important contribution to one of the big political debates of our time.Õ Ð Professor Roland Bleiker, University of Queensland, Australia ÔThis is a brilliant and insightful treatment of Western representations of China, with a theoretical framework suggesting they come not only from China itself, but also the West. Although it is not the first treatment of this topic, it is innovative in considering the ÒChina threatÓ and ÒChina opportunityÓ: both aspects of the rise of China are of crucial importance for our times. With provocative conclusions, it is a truly path-breaking contribution to the literature. I recommend it highly!Õ Ð Emeritus Professor Colin Mackerras, Griffith University, Australia ÔPan has produced a book which not only challenges some basic assumptions about the nature of ChinaÕs ÒriseÓ, but more importantly forces us to rethink the very basic starting points of how we know what we know about China.Õ Ð Professor Shaun Breslin, University of Warwick, UK How is the rise of China perceived in the West? Why is it often labelled as ÔthreatÕ and/or ÔopportunityÕ? What are the implications of these China imageries for global politics? Taking up these important questions, this groundbreaking book argues that the dominant Western perceptions of ChinaÕs rise tell us less about China and more about Western self-imagination and its desire for certainty. Chengxin Pan expertly illustrates how this desire, masked as China ÔknowledgeÕ, is bound up with the political economy of fears and fantasies, thereby both informing and complicating foreign policy practice in Sino-Western relations. Insofar as this vital relationship is shaped not only by ChinaÕs rise, but also by the way we conceptualise its rise, this book makes a compelling case for critical reflection on China watching. Knowledge, Desire and Power in Global Politics is the first systematic and deconstructive analysis of contemporary Western representation of ChinaÕs rise. Setting itself apart from the mainstream empiricist literature, its critical interpretative approach and unconventional and innovative perspective will not only strongly appeal to academics, students and the broader reading public, but also likely spark debate in the field of Chinese international relations.

Black civil rights leaders have long supported ethnic identity politics and prioritized the integration of political institutions, and seldom has that strategy been questioned. In False Black Power?, Jason L. Riley takes an honest, factual look at why increased black political power has not paid off in the ways that civil rights leadership has promised. Recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of black elected officials, culminating in the historic presidency of Barack Obama. However, racial gaps in employment, income, homeownership, academic achievement, and other measures not only continue but in some cases have even widened. While other racial and ethnic groups in America have made economic advancement a priority, the focus on political capital for blacks has been a disadvantage, blocking them from the fiscal capital that helped power upward mobility among other groups. Riley explains why the political strategy of civil rights leaders has left so many blacks behind. The key to black economic advancement today is overcoming cultural handicaps, not attaining more political power. The book closes with thoughtful responses from key thought leaders Glenn Loury and John McWhorter.

Francis Bacon - a leading figure in the history of science - never made a major discovery, provided a lasting explanation of any physical phenomena or revealed any hidden laws of nature. How then can he rank as he does alongside Newton? Bacon was the first major thinker to describe how science should be done, and to explain why. Scientific knowledge should not be gathered for its own sake but for practical benefit to mankind. And Bacon promoted experimentation, coming to outline and define the rigorous procedures of the 'scientific method' that today from the very bedrock of modern scientific progress. John Henry gives a dramatic account of the background to Bacon's innovations and the sometimes unconventional sources for his ideas. Why was he was so concerned to revolutionize the attitude to scientific knowledge - and why do his ideas for reform still resonate today?

Knowledge and Global Power is a ground-breaking international study which examines how knowledge is produced, distributed and validated globally. The authors use interviews, databases, and fieldwork to show how intellectual workers respond in Brazil, South Africa, and Australia. The study focuses on socially and politically important research fields: HIV/AIDS, climate change, and gender studies. The research demonstrates emphatically that 'place matters', shaping research, scholarship and knowledge itself.

In Black Corona, Steven Gregory examines political culture and activism in an African-American neighborhood in New York City. Using historical and ethnographic research, he challenges the view that black urban communities are "socially disorganized." Gregory demonstrates instead how working-class and middle-class African Americans construct and negotiate complex and deeply historical political identities and institutions through struggles over the built environment and neighborhood quality of life. With its emphasis on the lived experiences of African Americans, Black Corona provides a fresh and innovative contribution to the study of the dynamic interplay of race, class, and space in contemporary urban communities. It questions the accuracy of the widely used trope of the dysfunctional "black ghetto," which, the author asserts, has often been deployed to depoliticize issues of racial and economic inequality in the United States. By contrast, Gregory argues that the urban experience of African Americans is more diverse than is generally acknowledged and that it is only by attending to the history and politics of black identity and community life that we can come to appreciate this complexity. This is the first modern ethnography to focus on black working-class and middle-class life and politics. Unlike books that enumerate the ways in which black communities have been rendered powerless by urban political processes and by changing urban economies, Black Corona demonstrates the range of ways in which African Americans continue to organize and struggle for social justice and community empowerment. Although it discusses the experiences of one community, its implications resonate far more widely. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.