Theory of Racelessness

This book presents a skeptical eliminativist philosophy of race and the theory of racelessness, a methodological and pedagogical framework for analyzing "race" and racism. It explores the history of skeptical eliminativism and constructionist eliminativism within the history of African American philosophy and literary studies and its consistent connection with movements for civil rights. Sheena M. Mason considers how current anti-racist efforts reflect naturalist conservationist and constructionist reconstructionist philosophies of race that prevent more people from fully confronting the problem of racism, not race, thereby enabling racism to persist. She then offers a three-part solution for how scholars and people aspiring toward anti-racism can avoid unintentionally upholding racism, using literary studies as a case study to show how "race" often translates into racism itself. The theory of racelessness helps more people undo racism by undoing the belief in "race."

“‘Theory of Racelessness’ is attention-getting, to be sure. … This is undoubtedly a work for scholars. It would be a good use of monies for college and university libraries to snag a copy, and for professors and researchers to pester their administrators to make it available for their schools. … it would be a valuable addition to your own personal collection. … a book I highly recommend … .” (mphilliber.blogspot.com, August 9, 2022)

"Sheena M. Mason advances the bold claim that racism is a crazy-making regime that inspires jaundiced categorizations of American life in a foolish attempt to order things by 'race.' Theory of Racelessness represents an unapologetic commitment to the elimination of racism and the corresponding belief in race. It is an unwavering attempt to wrestle squarely with the historical and contemporary facts of racism, without making the mistake of reifying common beliefs about race. Mason displays an incredible synergistic and critical comprehension of philosophical theories and arguments about race, and the relevance of each to grounding a new interpretive methodology and pedagogy of African American literature. Mason artfully reframes the supposition that race is real and matters with the more astute contention that racism is real and matters. Mason’s text emerges at the intersection of philosophy of race and African American literary studies…offeringa scathing critique of disciplinary suppositions that clears the way for a prescient understanding of African American literature." (Jacoby Adeshei Carter, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Howard University)

“Those of us who have grown proud of our ability to do anti-racist work in the classroom will find humility encountering Sheena Mason’s Theory of Racelessness. Mason asks us to throw out the familiar script and join in a conversation that is suddenly fresher, broader, and even more challenging.  This is absolutely necessary reading.”   (George Hovis, Professor of English, SUNY Oneonta)

"This is how the world becomes a better place. Dr. Mason joins a growing number of thinkers issuing a clarion call to see past the restrictive and divisive boundaries of the racial worldview in order to truly and finally overcome racism. Her insights and arguments invite everyone with an open mind and a true desire to overcome racism to resist the ways we’ve been socialized to orient our sense of self based on a malicious myth, and to consider how we can preserve pride in overcoming oppression without continuing to reify and perpetuate the false divisions that enable oppression. Dr. Mason reminds us that race is an inherently nebulous and nefarious concept, and she urges us to act on that truth by making the necessary effort to eliminate it from the ways we understand and define human identity. Race is an inherited idea, not a feature of immutable heredity. Dr. Mason invites us to interrogate the bad idea of race and move towards a world made better by its absence." (Carlos Hoyt, Author of The Arch of a Bad Idea)

“Dr. Sheena Mason’s Theory of Racelessness offers a 21st century thesaurus for explaining and grappling with the issue of racism. It highlights the need for a self-reflective approach to addressing racism—one that does not reify but, instead, eliminates the conceptual machinery that maintains racism. Dr. Mason’s Theory voyages beyond the superficial ecosystem that many of her contemporaries are playing in, and arrives at the very heart of the racism issue—the exact place we need to be if we are to get anywhere close to ridding the human family of this malignant plague. In the globalised, connected landscape that we currently occupy, it goes without saying that history will look at Dr. Mason’s Theory with a smile.” (Eric Ehigie, Corporate Law Student at the National University of Ireland Galway, Podcaster, and the Politics Coordinator at “Black and Irish”)

"Dr. Sheena Mason’s book is a doorway into a revelatory way of thinking about race and racism. Her subject is African American literature from its earliest times through Toni Morrison and even more contemporary writers. Her objective is to excavate the way these people who have always been Americans in the truest sense have both confronted and confounded the conceptual prisons they have been invited into, as we all are, still.  We learn how nuanced and varied have been the ways that African Americans have seen the 'race craft' of racialization throughout our history. I imagine other readers riding the beautiful curves of Mason’s imaginal landscape as she surveys the work of some truly brilliant writers, in a topic that has bedeviled us, so badly, and finding 'a worldview in which one can be liberated from certain forms of madness.' This is an incredibly satisfying, highly intriguing, and it may not be too much to say, historic book."  (Daniel Sperry, Composer/Producer)

"Mason's Theory of Racelessness offers a refreshing and much needed (re)analysis on the concept of 'race.' Likewise, while she challenges previous notions of 'race,' she puts forward a humanity focused future in which 'race' is understood, but not intrinsic to one's being."  (Mamobo Ogoro, Social Psychologist, University of Limerick, Ireland.) 

 

"This well-argued and revolutionary penned book confirms Mason’s position as an epistemic revolutionary and decolonial thinker with a massive potential to globally shift mindsets from the enslavement of pro-race (racist) lenses to the liberation of racelessness. It should be a compulsory read for every human so that we can free ourselves from the limiting identity boxes that stem from racialization and ultimately end racism with its micro and macro complexities." (Shayla S. Dube, MSW, RSW, Identity Based Trauma & Racial Trauma Expert, Langa Decolonial Healing Inc.) 

 

"Systems do not make themselves, individuals and their corresponding beliefs make up systems. I find Dr. Sheena Mason's Theory of Racelessness to be both a call to action and a practical approach, that offers a unique perspective on the belief based ideology of race. TOR gives the reader a rational framework from within which the belief in race can be confronted and eliminated.A must read for individuals serious about eliminating racism." (Ogie Iyamu, Registered Social Worker, Edmonton, Alberta)

“Mason’s book offers a unique and timely view of the historical and ongoing field of African American literary theory and criticism. Mason’s book deftly argues that the field has largely conflated race with the content and structure of African American literary practice resulting in both race(ism) and raci(al/ist) views of African American literature. In reconstituting African American literary theory, Mason’s book establishes a new perspective of African American literary theory and criticism and works to expand the canon, in the process rereading the entire history of African American literary practice.”(James Haile III, Associate Professor of Philosophy & Literature, University of Rhode Island, USA)

Sheena Michele Mason earned her Ph.D. in English literature from Howard University. In August 2021, she joined the faculty at SUNY Oneonta as an Assistant Professor in English. She co-founded Theory of Racelessness, an educational consulting firm that helps people use alternative philosophies of race and her theory to achieve truly anti-racist outcomes.