White Thinking: Behind the Mask of Racial Identity

What does it mean to be white? Beyond just a skin colour, is it also a way of thinking? If so, how did it come about, and why?In this book, drawing on history, personal experience and activist literature, the former footballer and World Champion Lilian Thuram looks at the origins and workings of white thinking, how it divides us and how it has become ubiquitous and accepted without challenge. He demonstrates how centuries of white bias and denial justified slavery and colonialism, and have reinforced norms and structures of oppression, limiting the roles and horizons of both non-whites and whites alike.

Crucially, while White Thinking is a critique of ingrained structural inequities, it calls for an inclusive approach to solving the problem, and aims to raise awareness and imagine a new world in which all of humanity is given equal weight.

‘White Thinking patiently demonstrates… how European societies, through their creation of Black people, also invented White people.’ Le Monde

‘Strikes another blow in his battle against racial stereotypes.’ La Vie

‘This book is not interested in repentance or white guilt but in the ability to face up to historical reality and to the fact that others might have a very different understanding of that history.’ Revue des deux mondes

‘He is almost unique amongst retired sportspeople, having left his old life behind him in the dressing room. Today, the activist has replaced the footballer.’ Liberation

‘This wonderful book is as thoughtful as it is brave.’ Paul Gilroy FRSL FBA, founding Director of the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Race and Racism at University College, London