Contours of African American Politics : Volume 1, Race and Representation in American Politics

Contours of African American Politics chronicles the systematic study of African American politics and its subsequent recognition as an established field of scholarly inquiry. African American politics emanates from the demands of the prolonged struggle for black liberation and empowerment. Hence, the study of African American politics has sought to track, codify, and analyse the struggle that has been mounted, and to understand the historic and changing political status of African Americans within American society. This two-volume set presents a selection of scholarship on African American politics as it appeared in The National Political Science Review from its initial launch in 1989 to the spring of 2009. Represented are contributions from some of the leading scholars of African American politics, who have helped to establish and sustain the field. The volumes are organised around themes that derive from the unfolding real-life drama of African American politics and its subsequent scholarly treatment. The result is a window into the political efforts that meld the historically disparate strands of black political expressions into a reconstructed and strategically nimble, electoral-based mass mobilisation necessary for optimising the impact of the African American vote. Sections in the volumes also chronicle the evolution of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists as a professional organisation. The two volumes illuminate a pivotal epoch in black political empowerment and provide a context for the future of black politics. Contours of African American Politics chronicles the systematic study of African American politics and its subsequent recognition as an established field of scholarly inquiry. African American politics emanates from the demands of the prolonged struggle for black liberation and empowerment. Hence, the study of African American politics has sought to track, codify, and analyze the struggle that has been mounted, and to understand the historic and changing political status of African Americans within American society. Since the 1990s, many analysts of black politics have alternated between lamenting the failings of black politics, and pronouncing its demise. Much of the complaints seem to stem from disappointment that black politics has not produced a broader improvement of the socioeconomic status of black America. In the last twenty years, several socioeconomic indicators, such as the persistently large gap between unemployment levels of blacks and whites, and the long-standing disparity between blacks and whites in terms of income and wealth, have worsened. For many analysts, black politics has lost its defining, quasi-revolutionary zeal and has become too much a part of status-quo politics. The notion of a post-racial America is one that was birthed by the election of Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States. However, another reality is equally compelling: that for some time now, many African American aspirants for elective office have run against race-specific issues, putting individual desires to win office above the conventionally defined collective interests of black folk. Clearly, the Obama presidential election crystallized a complexity of change that had been underway in America prior to his election. Indeed, did the Obama election signal the end of black politics? Does race remain a useful construct for framing the collective interests of African Americans? Volume III of Contours of African American Politics examines all of these questions, in an effort to understand the more poignant question of what the future holds for that which we have known as black politics. Book jacket Contours of African American Politics chronicles the systematic study of African American politics and its subsequent recognition as an established field of scholarly inquiry. African American politics emanates from the demands of the prolonged struggle for black liberation and empowerment. Hence, the study of African American politics has sought to track, codify, and analyze the struggle that has been mounted, and to understand the historic and changing political status of African Americans within American society.This two-volume set presents a selection of scholarship on African American politics as it appeared in The National Political Science Review from its initial launch in 1989 to the spring of 2009. Represented are contributions from some of the leading scholars of African American politics, who have helped to establish and sustain the field. The volumes are organized around themes that derive from the unfolding real-life drama of African American politics and its subsequent scholarly treatment.The result is a window into the political efforts that meld the historically disparate strands of black political expressions into a reconstructed and strategically nimble, electoral-based mass mobilization necessary for optimizing the impact of the African American vote. Sections in the volumes also chronicle the evolution of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists as a professional organization. The two volumes illuminate a pivotal epoch in black political empowerment and provide a context for the future of black politics. V. 1. Race And Representation In American Politics -- V. 2. Black Politics And The Dynamics Of Social Change -- V. 3. Into The Future : The Demise Of African American Politics? Edited By Georgia A. Persons. An Anthology Of Articles Drawn From Prior Issues Of The National Political Science Review. Includes Bibliographical References.