Against Epistemic Apartheid
W.E.B. Du Bois and the Disciplinary Decadence of Sociology
By Reiland Rabaka, associate professor of ethnic studies
Lexington Books
In this intellectual history-making volume, multiple award-winning W. E. B. Du Bois scholar Reiland Rabaka offers the first book-length treatment of Du Boisās seminal sociological discourse: from Du Bois as inventor of the sociology of race to Du Bois as the first sociologist of American religion; from Du Bois as a pioneer of urban and rural sociology to Du Bois as innovator of the sociology of gender and inaugurator of intersectional sociology; and, finally, from Du Bois as groundbreaking sociologist of education and critical criminologist to Du Bois as dialectical critic of the disciplinary decadence of sociology and the American academy.
āAgainst Epistemic Apartheidā brings new and intensive archival research into critical dialogue with the watershed work of classical and contemporary, male and female, black and white, national and international sociologists and critical social theoristsā Du Bois studies.
āAgainst Epistemic Apartheidā offers an accessible introduction to Du Boisās major contributions to sociology and, therefore, will be of interest to scholars and students not only in sociology, but also African American studies, American studies, cultural studies, critical race studies, gender studies, and postcolonial studies, as well as scholars and students in ātraditionalā disciplines such as history, philosophy, political science, economics, education and religion.
āThis is a powerful book! Professor Rabaka not only shows how DuBois produced against all odds an alternative epistemology to challenge the social scientific discourse of his period. And since the āepistemic apartheidā remains firmly in place, we all would be well-served by understanding the DuBoisian episteme.ā
āEduardo Bonilla-Silva, Author of āWhite Logic, White Methodsā