Barack Obama

by Mazama, Ama; Asante, Molefi Kete

• ISBN13: 9781452216706
• ISBN10: 1452216703
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-17
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

Mazama and Asante explore the Obama era-the confluence of the political, technological, social, economic, and religious dimensions of Obama's campaign, election, and presidency. Culled from hundreds of articles in journals across the social sciences-in political science, sociology, African American studies, and communication--this illuminating collection deals with the complexities of the Obama phenomenon from critical research perspective, marking the era as a transformation brought about by a transitional leader. Part introductions offer needed framing and context to facilitate debate and discussion.

Author Biography

Ama Mazama is associate professor of Africana studies at Temple University. She holds a Ph.D. from La Sorbonne and has published 11 books including coediting the Encyclopedia of African Religion, The Afrocentric Paradigm, Africa in the 21st Century, L' Imperatif Afrocentricit as well as more than 40 articles in research journals. In addition, she has translated the political and social works of African American intellectuals into French. During the past twenty years Dr. Mazama has directed a dozen doctoral degree programs and educated thousands of students in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean. Her work is regularly cited by other scholars in Canada, England, France, Jamaica, and the United States. She is also the associate editor of the Journal of Black Studies, the premier journal in its field. Dr. Mazama edited the first scholarly special issue on the candidacy of Barack Obama. Molefi Kete Asante holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published more than 70 books and is the creator of the first doctoral program in African American studies. Asante is author of As I Run Toward Africa, The African American People, The Afrocentric Idea, An Afrocentric Manifesto, and Afrocentricity. He is also the coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Black Studies and the Handbook of Black Studies. Asante has been called the most published African American scholar with more than 400 articles to his credit. Dr. Asante is an intellectual activist believing that one must use scholarship to humanize the world.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
About the Editors	p. xi
Introduction: The Barack Obama Phenomenon: Politics, Symbol, and Reality	p. 1
See How Barack Obama Ran: The Campaign for the Presidency	p. 9
Deracializing Obama: White Voters and the 2004 Illinois U. S. Senate Race	p. 11
Southern Strategy 2.0: Conservatives, White Voters, and the Election of Barack Obama	p. 37
Turning Out the Center: Racial Politics and African Agency in the Obama Era	p. 55
An Immigrant's Dream and the Audacity of Hope: The 2004 Convention Addresses of Barack Obama and Arnold Schwarzenegger	p. 71
The Iconic Obama: Controlling the Identity of a President	p. 85
Obama's Political Philosophy: Pragmatism, Politics, and the University of Chicago	p. 87
Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness	p. 131
Barack Obama's Faustian Bargain and the Fight for America's Racial Soul	p. 153
The Lessons of the Obama Presidential Election	p. 167
Facing Barack Hussein Obama: Race, Globalization, and Transnational America	p. 169
The Audacity of Hope	p. 181
Obama and the White Vote	p. 193
The Limits of Governance in Obama's Administration	p. 213
Obama: The New Contours of Power	p. 215
Barack Obama and the Dilemma of Power: An Africological Observation	p. 235
Obama's Whiteness	p. 245
Perceptions of Leadership and the Challenge of Obama's Blackness	p. 251
Barack Obama and the Politics of Race: The Myth of Postracism in America	p. 261
"The Reality of American Life Has Strayed From Its Myths": Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope and the Discourse of the American Reclamation Jeremiad	p. 275
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