Souffrant, Eddy M. Review of Joshua Glasgow's A THEORY OF RACE. NDPR (June 2009).

Glasgow, Joshua. A Theory of Race. London: Routledge, 2009. Joshua Glasgow's A Theory of Race . . . accounts for both the denial that race is biologically real and the relevance of race as a social concept. In seven chapters and an afterword, Glasgow undertakes his exploration of the concept of race and the contemporary literature it has spawned. He enlists the help of some of the prominent race theorists of our time ranging from Kwame Anthony Appiah to Naomi Zack, Linda Martín Alcoff, Jorge Gracia, Michele Moody-Adams, Lucius Outlaw, Anna Stubblefield, Ronald Sundstrom and Paul Taylor, to name but a few of the authors whose views are considered in the text. These authors of race theories help Glasgow explain the race debate and facilitate his goal to have us understand the concept of race and what it entails. From this foundational exposition, Glasgow proceeds to consider the various constituents of, and justifications for, racial discourse. Racial discourse depends on the reality of race. That bond informs any viable theory of race. A sustainable racial discourse is gauged by that basic standard of reality. What if race is not real? What becomes then of racial discourse? Glasgow's innovative approach answers both the problems inherent in my scenarios as they are presented above and the apparent ontological challenge that racial discourse engenders. Glasgow argues that even if there is no biological basis for race and race is an illusion, it does not follow that racial discourse should be eliminated. Instead he proposes to "reconstruct racial discourse . . . to eliminate the biological pretensions of that discourse . . . [and also] to eliminate any racist pretensions" (136). . . . Read the whole review here: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=16334.