Race, Religion, and Resilience in the Neoliberal Age

Book excerpt: This book presents a study of the rise of American neoliberalism in the aftermath of the modern Civil Rights movement, paying particular attention to the traumatic impact of the neoliberal age on countless African Americans. Author Cedric C. Johnson takes a close look at the manner in which American neoliberalism has been able to preserve, articulate, and exploit constructions of race-based difference. The neoliberal age has engendered an extraordinary growth in economic disparities and social inequalities, with traumatic repercussions for innumerable African Americans. Historically, black religious forms have functioned as contested spaces, capable of organizing alternative modes of cultural, economic, and political life. This project examines forms of black religiosity that function as modes of soul care in this context. Johnson posits an innovative, multi-systems approach that informs practices of care for populations traumatized or threatened by the neoliberal age.