Why has affirmative action become the lightning rod for conflicts over racial inequality in the United States? Have color-blind legal and political doctrines intensified or ameliorated America’s racial divisions? Race and Representation: Affirmative Action invites readers to enter a debate on a matter of the greatest moment for American universities, politics, and public life. Focusing on the politically driven decision of California’s governor and Board of Regents to end affirmative action at the University of California, as well as on the subsequent enactment of an amendment to the California Constitution prohibiting the state from engaging in affirmative action, and on court decisions in Texas using the federal Constitution to prohibit affirmative action at universities, contributors to this volume incisively assess the current state of the tumultuous affirmative action controversy.

“A fascinating analysis not just of affirmative action, but also of contemporary political and social issues affecting ‘race relations’ in the United States.”
— The Ethnic Conflict Research Digest