'In the current global zeitgeist, how is it possible to not think about race? The demonisation and racial profiling of Muslims, the institutional brutality that triggered the USA’s Black Lives Matter movement, the Trump ascendancy, the murder of pro-migration liberal Jo Cox, Brexit, the debate over Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act’s Section 18C: these are provocations that we cannot dismiss. Writing about the topic may be deeply traumatic, particularly for those who are historically and socially racialized. Personal rejoinders and accusations of ‘exceptionalism’ are customary responses. Race is a complex, contested concept, a deeply divisive subject. It elicits strong emotional opinions from the liberally educated and from those who cultivate rationality.' (Introduction)
