Stuart Hall Race The Floating Signifier (1997)

Stuart Hall offers an accessible and clarifying analysis of the social construction of race and racial difference He explores how variations in peoples appearances come to be mistaken for essential differences He traces how these misinterpretations function both to express and to reproduce dominant power relations And he argues for more rigorous engagements with identity representation and contingency capable of acknowledging and respecting difference without essentializing it An ideal introduction to how cultural studies intervenes in debates about race representation identity and power