Beyond orthodoxies of race and class: introduction

Race and class have long been contested and pitted against one another within scholarship and social justice struggles. This introduction to the special issue Beyond Orthodoxies of Race and Class maps the theoretical terrain of these debates rather than adjudicating which orthodoxies must be transcended. Situating race-class inquiry within decades of left retreat and an intensifying far-right politics, it traces divides among class-centered, race-centered, and intersectional approaches, alongside bridging traditions including racial capitalism, decolonial theory, Black internationalism, Indigenous political economy, caste studies, and a critical theory of racism. The editors argue that both class-blind race analysis and race-blind class analysis yield flawed political strategies, as racism and capitalism are mutually constitutive. The thirteen contributions, organized around race-class contestation, history, epistemology, Indigeneity and caste, and education and community, reflect divergent positions. The issue is offered as an invitation to dialogue across theoretical traditions, in service of effective emancipatory analysis and organizing.