Critical Race Theory (CRT) offers an account of society based on systemic, deep-rooted racist oppression that saturates our commonsensical judgements to such an extent that all but the most extreme racism appears normal and unexceptional, simply ‘business as usual’. CRT is one of the fastest growing and most controversial fields of contemporary social theory, and education is the discipline where its most dynamic and challenging work is taking place.

Now, answering the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of this sometimes shocking and often contentious body of thought, Routledge announces a new title in its Major Themes in Education series. In four volumes, Critical Race Theory in Education provides a unique ‘mini library’ that encompasses the very best CRT scholarship in education. As with other titles in the series, the collection’s hallmark is its combination of the canonical and the cutting edge: every selection is either an established ‘classic’ or significantly challenges and advances thinking on current issues.

The first volume (‘Tenets of Critical Race Theory in Education’) sets out the core themes that distinguish the CRT approach. Volume II (‘Whiteness and White Supremacy’), meanwhile, explores the construction and maintenance of assumptions and practices that take for granted the elevated status of white people’s interests and perspectives. The third volume (‘Global and Specific: CRT Off-shoot Movements’) focuses on the development of CRT as an approach with an international reach, while simultaneously retaining space for distinctive developments that prioritize individual social groups within their particular historic, cultural, and economic contexts. The collection’s final volume (‘Doing CRT in Education’) is dedicated to questions of method, ethics, and praxis in the everyday struggle to advance research and effect genuine anti-racist change amid systems that normalize racism and deny the legitimacy of race-conscious scholarship.

The collection has been assembled by an editorial team featuring some of the leading US and UK-based scholars in educational critical race theory.