Hazel V. Carby Publishes Racial Fictions

In her most recent book, Racial Fictions, Koerner Fellow Hazel V. Carby offers a powerful critique of the racial myths that shape the world. Drawing on a rich tapestry of historical analysis, literary criticism, and cultural theory, Professor Carby interrogates racial fictions, which have been constructed, maintained, and weaponized across centuries to justify systems of domination and exploitation.

Traversing temporalities and global boundaries, the book reveals the inter-connectedness of America’s domestic racial struggles and international colonial ambitions. Professor Carby challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the persistence of white supremacy, the violence embedded in historical memory, and the silencing of marginalized voices. The result is a profound exploration of the intricate and enduring legacies of race, imperialism, and violence in the formation of modern identities and nation-states.

Hazel V. Carby is Charles C. and Dorothea S. Dilley Professor Emeritus of African American Studies and Professor Emeritus of American Studies. Among her publications are Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands, winner of the British Academy’s Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding (2020); Cultures in Babylon: Black Britain and African America (1999); Race Men (1998); and Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist (1987). A fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, she was awarded the Jay B. Hubbell Medal for Lifetime Achievement in American Literary Studies from the Modern Language Association; the inaugural Stuart Hall Outstanding Mentor Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association; and an honorary Doctor of Letters from Wesleyan University.