Barack Obama
Political Frontiers and Racial Agency
Edited by:
January 2012 | 304 pages | CQ Press
Mazama and Asante explore the Obama era—the confluence of the political, technological, social, economic, and religious dimensions of Obama's campaign, election, and presidency.
Culled from hundreds of articles in journals across the social sciences—in political science, sociology, African American studies, and communication--this illuminating collection deals with the complexities of the Obama phenomenon from critical research perspective, marking the era as a transformation brought about by a transitional leader. Part introductions offer needed framing and context to facilitate debate and discussion.
Ama Mazama and Molefi Kete Asante
The Barack Obama Phenomenon: Politics, Symbol, and Reality
PART ONE: SEE HOW BARACK OBAMA RAN: THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE PRESIDENCY
David. J. Andersen and Jane Junn
Deracializing Obama: White Voters and the 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate Race
Thomas Edge
Southern Strategy 2.0: Conservatives, White Voters, and the Election of Barack Obama
Phillip S. Howard
Turning Out the Center: Racial Politics and African Agency in the Obama Era
Babak Elahi and Grant Cos Part
An Immigrant's Dream and the Audacity of Hope: The 2004 Convention Addresses of Barack Obama and Arnold Schwarzenegger
PART TWO: THE ICONIC OBAMA: CONTROLLING THE IDENTITY OF A PRESIDENT
Bart Schultz
Obama’s Political Philosophy: Pragmatism, Politics, and the University of Chicago
Ron Walters
Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness
Christopher J. Metzler
Barack Obama’s Faustian Bargain and the Fight for America’s Racial Soul
PART THREE: THE LESSONS OF THE OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Radhika Parameswaran
Facing Barack Hussein Obama: Race, Globalization, and Transnational America
Dewey Clayton
The Audacity of Hope
Todd Donovan Part
Obama and the White Vote
PART FOUR: THE LIMITS OF GOVERNANCE IN OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION
Jerry Harris and Carl Davidson
Obama: The New Contours of Power
Molefi Kete Asante
Barack Obama and the Dilemma of Power: An Africological Observation
Shawn Michelle Smith
Obama’s Whiteness
Charlton D. McIlwain
Perceptions of Leadership and the Challenge of Obama’s Blackness
Martell Teasley and David Ikard
Barack Obama and the Politics of Race: The Myth of Postracism in America
Willie J. Harrell, Jr.
The Reality of American Life Has Strayed From its Myths: Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope and the Discourse of the American Reclamation Jeremiad
3 chapters of the book seem to be in line with the course's general outline. Yet, being focused too much on USA and racial agency, book is a little bit out of scope to be fully adopted as required reading for university course in Sweden.
Dept of Media & Communication Studies, Karlstad University
July 9, 2012