Racial Formation

The psychosocial manifestations of racialization, the political deployment of categories of race, and the generation of systems of racism have all been some of the most vexing and recalcitrant problems associated with the historical period of Western modernity. This entry is concerned with understanding how and why race becomes a salient and central organizing construct that one relies upon to make sense of self, others, social interactions, events, and the world during the period commonly understood to be childhood. Of course, the utilization of race in meaning-making may either be unintentional or conversely reflect a deliberate awareness thereof through what Michael Banton refers to as a racial consciousness. Irrespective of this degree of intentionality, it is important to understand how race itself is imbricated with ...