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What is black culture? Does it have an essence?
What do we lose and gain by assuming that it does, and by
building our laws accordingly? This bold and provocative
book questions the common presumption of political multiculturalism
that social categories such as race, ethnicity, gender,
and sexuality are defined by distinctive cultural practices
Richard Ford argues against law reform proposals
that would attempt to apply civil rights protections to
"cultural difference." Unlike many criticisms
of multiculturalism, which worry about "reverse discrimination"
or the erosion of core Western cultural values, the book's
argument is primarily focused on the adverse effects of
multicultural rhetoric and multicultural rights on their
supposed beneficiaries.
In clear and compelling prose, Ford argues
that multicultural accounts of cultural differences do not
accurately describe the practices of social groups. Instead
these accounts are prescriptive: they attempt to canonize
a narrow, parochial, and contestable set of ideas about
appropriate group culture and to discredit more cosmopolitan
lifestyles, commitments, and values.
The book argues that far from remedying
discrimination and status hierarchy, "cultural rights"
share the ideological presuppositions, and participate in
the discursive and institutional practices, of racism, sexism,
and homophobia. Ford offers specific examples in support
of this thesis, in diverse contexts such as employment discrimination,
affirmative action, and transracial adoption.
This is a major contribution to our understanding
of today's politics of race, by one of the most distinctive
and important young voices in America's legal academy.
Richard T. Ford is the George E. Osborne
Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. He has published
in numerous legal journals, including the Harvard Law
Review and Stanford Law Review. He is co-author
of Local Government Law and The Legal Geographies
Reader.
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