New Books in Higher Education David Theo Goldberg, "The War on Critical Race Theory: Or, The Remaking of Racism" (Polity Press, 2023)
Aug 14, 2025
David Theo Goldberg, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at UC Irvine, tackles the growing backlash against Critical Race Theory in America. He illustrates how conservative attacks have reshaped educational discourse and fueled social division. Goldberg critiques the political motivations behind the demonization of CRT, revealing who funds these assaults and the impact on communities. He also explores evolving racial narratives and the pressing need for authentic leadership in addressing structural racism amidst misinformation.
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Interdisciplinary Career Origin Story
- David Theo Goldberg describes his interdisciplinary academic path from philosophy into comparative literature and anthropology.
- He recounts arriving at UC Irvine in 2000 to direct a system-wide humanities institute and later moving into anthropology full-time.
Personal Roots Shape Scholarly Focus
- Goldberg links his lifelong focus on race to growing up under apartheid in South Africa and decades of scholarship on the racial state.
- He says the book responded to ideological shifts visible around the 2020 US election and the rise of explicit conservative attacks.
What Early Critical Race Theory Meant
- Goldberg defines CRT 1.0 as a legal framework showing law's historical embedding of racial privilege and tools like intersectionality.
- He traces CRT's origins to Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and legal scholars responding to critical legal studies and debates about race versus class.
