9 Reasons to Read “Urban Specters”
The Following is a guest post by Sarah Mayorga, author of Urban Specters: The Everyday Harms of Racial Capitalism, now available wherever books are sold.
Urban Specters: The Everyday Harms of Racial Capitalism is about working-class and poor people in Cincinnati and how they make sense of their lives. How the stories they tell about the world are often shaped by and breed fear and disconnection, reflecting the brutal structures of racial capitalism. But it’s also about how some residents rewrote these stories and enacted care in the face of racism and capitalist harm.
Still not sure whether you should pick up this book? Here are nine reasons Urban Specters is for you!
1. You’ve never heard of racial capitalism
2. You’ve heard the phrase “racial capitalism” but are not sure what it means
3. You want to teach about racial capitalism and are looking for an approachable text that connects theory and data
4. You’ve ever wondered whether race or class matters more
5. You want to learn more about a mid-sized city in the contemporary Midwest
6. You like books with striking covers
7. You want to read an author reconsider her racial positioning and talk about white Latinidad in the methods appendix
8. You think homeowners care more about their neighbors than renters
9. You’re curious what people mean when they say “abolition,” especially related to the police
Sarah Mayorga is associate professor of sociology at Brandeis University and is the author of Behind the White Picket Fence: Power and Privilege in a Multiethnic Neighborhood.