Race in the age of Obama -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of contributors -- List of Illustrations -- Introduction -- Part I: African Foreign Policy in the Age of Obama -- Chapter 1. Obama and Africa -- Introduction -- The Ghana speech -- Reactions to Obama's speech and Africa foreign policy -- Obama's Africa policy: An assessment -- Obama's prospects for a more successful Africa policy -- Notes -- Part II: Michelle and Barack Obama - Race and the First Family in the Age of Obama -- Chapter 2. ''He loves strong, intelligent women. They're his Kryptonite:'' Michelle Obama, gender, race, and the black press -- Gender roles, mass media, and first ladies -- Images of black women -- Racial formation and news coverage -- Methods and Data -- Results -- Conclusion -- Research limitations -- Values of paper -- References -- Chapter 3. Outsiders within the higher circles: Two first ladies as cultural icons in a racialized politics of difference -- Two first ladies as ''Outsiders Within'' an era a transformation -- Two first ladies of the United States in black and white -- Jackie and Michelle: Cultural iconography and cultural agency -- Outsiders within: Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Obama as representative women -- The higher circles: Women and the visualization of race and class -- Controlling outsiders within -- References -- Chapter 4. Mom-in-chief: Community othermothering and Michelle Obama, the first lady of the people's house -- Introduction: mom-in-chief as ''trickster'' and betrayer of ''feminist'' ideals -- Defending our name: Black women's distinct mothering values and practices -- Taking Obama at her word and the fundamental importance of othermothering -- Data and methods: Contemporary archival analysis -- Conceptualizing African-American motherhood -- Othermothering: Mothering in community.

Raising Michelle Robinson to be a community othermother -- Reconciling individualism and collective responsibility -- The White House and the role of the first lady -- Re-making the White House: Michelle Obama's othermothering in action -- Guess who's hosting and coming to dinner (and spending time in local schools)? -- In search of othermothers' gardens: Building new traditions for the first lady -- Conclusion -- References -- Online Resources -- Part III: American Race Studies - Race Relations Theories in the Age of Obama -- Chapter 5. The management of social theory: Obama and the American presidency in the age of segregated diversity -- Introduction -- The theoretical and historical context -- Obama and the presidency -- The new group realities and segregated diversity -- Segregated diversity and presidential politics -- Conclusion -- References -- Part IV: Knowledge in Urban Spaces - Race and Urban Education in the Age of Obama -- Chapter 6. Struggling to educate its own: The Obama college attainment challenge and the city of Philadelphia -- National funding and policy contexts -- A city's struggle: Philadelphia -- City leadership mobilizes -- College awareness and neighborhood realities in North Central Philadelphia -- Educational aspirations -- Lessons learned -- Policy recommendations -- Notes -- Acknowledgment -- References -- Appendix -- Part V: Civil Rights and Social Justice in the Age of Obama -- Chapter 7. Racial Differences in the Perception of Racial Equality in the Obama Era -- Introduction -- Barack Obama and the racial divide -- Race and perceptions of racial justice -- Wilson's polarization thesis -- Data and methods -- Results -- Summary and conclusion -- Note -- References -- Chapter 8. Social justice in the age of Obama -- Institutionalized thought structure -- Racism as an attribute of institutions.

Selected examples of institutional racism -- What can the Obama administration doquest -- What can sociologists doquest -- Impact versus intent -- The future of social justice -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 9. Has change really come to Americaquest A black feminist critique of Barack Obama's social justice agenda -- Introduction -- Core aspects of black feminist theory -- Voter response to Obama's social justice campaign -- Obama's social justice policies to date -- Implications of the findings -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Part VI: The 2008 Election of Obama and Reaction to the Obama Presidency - A Change in America's Racial Politics -- Chapter 10. Campaigning for Obama and the politics of race: The case of California, Texas, and beyond -- Introduction -- Background: How I got involved in Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- Being Asian American in a black-and-white (political) world -- Obama and America speak in code -- The conclusion to ''Hope'' and ''Change'' and afterthoughts -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 11. Race threads and race threats: How Obamasolrace-discourse among conservatives changed through the 2008 presidential campaign -- Synthesizing classical and contemporary critical race theories: why and when racial dominants express racial animus -- Data and methods: using online (virtual community) data sources to study the cultures of hard-to-reach populations -- ''Arfcom'': a popular site for an armed and garrulous virtual community -- Profiling ''Arfcommers'' -- Results: an analysis of Obamathet content (in context) and trends (over time) -- A note on the challenges of assembling Obamathet trend data -- Obamathet patterns: is there evidence of a sense of rising race threat among Arfcommers during the course of the presidential election cyclequest -- Trends in racial obamathet usage.

Discussion: revisiting classical and contemporary critical race theories -- Why racial and general Obamathets signaled (over time) a growing sense of race threat among Arfcommers (and other white Americans as well) -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 12. The roots of Anti-Obama rhetoric -- Research design -- Obama nation -- Continuity of conspiracism -- Conclusions -- References -- Epilogue.