The Oxford Handbook of Language and Race

Book excerpt: Over the past two decades, the fields of linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics have complicated traditional understandings of the relationship between language and identity. But while research traditions that explore the linguistic complexities of gender and sexuality have long been established, the study of race as a linguistic issue has only emerged recently. The Oxford Handbook of Language and Race positions issues of race as central to language-based scholarship. In twenty-one chapters divided into four sections-Foundations and Formations; Coloniality and Migration; Embodiment and Intersectionality; and Racism and Representations-authors at the forefront of this rapidly expanding field present state-of-the-art research and establish future directions of research. Covering a range of sites from around the world, the handbook offers theoretical, reflexive takes on language and race, the larger histories and systems that influence these concepts, the bodies that enact and experience them, and the expressions and outcomes that emerge as a result. As the study of language and race continues to take on a growing importance across anthropology, communication studies, cultural studies, education, linguistics, literature, psychology, ethnic studies, sociology, and the academy as a whole, this volume represents a timely, much-needed effort to focus these fields on both the central role that language plays in racialization and on the enduring relevance of race and racism.