Call for Proposals for Chapter Submission to Routledge International Handbook on Race, Racism and Education

The purpose of this call is to invite scholars around the world to join us in putting together a handbook on race, racism and education. As communities, policy-makers and scholars around the world grapple with the challenge of how education systems might deal robustly and honestly with the questions of equality, equity, inclusion and the rights of all children/students, we are faced with the extraordinary reality that we do not yet have a text which, in one place, helps us understand the multifaceted relationships that exist between race, racism and education in the different places in which we find ourselves. This handbook seeks to fill this gap. The Routledge International Handbook on Race, Racism and Education is intended to address the theoretical debates of race and education, highlight the practical and policy implications of how race works in education, and ultimately challenge racism in all spheres and stages of education.

Our intention is to have the handbook published at the end of 2026. We aim to develop a handbook that will,

1. contextualise historically how and why the world finds itself at this point with respect to race and education,
2. offer a deep analysis of how race and racism are addressed in different parts of the world, proactively and reactively and
3. highlight generative examples from around the world where struggles against racial discrimination have yielded new understandings and new practices and point to alternative futures.

Practically, the handbook will be structured around the following themes:

1. the socio-historic, the use of race in shaping the course of the development of education, and the reciprocal effects of education on racial ontologies around the world;
2. the theory of race and education, essentially the explanation of its articulated epistemic foundations in philosophy, sociology, psychology and cultural theory;
3. the global landscape of race and education as it has taken form in the major sites of racialisation around the world;
4. the policy of race and education, and particularly its official legal expressions in different parts of the world, notably colonial education in India, Australia, the Caribbean and Canada, segregated schooling in the United States, apartheid education in South Africa and inclusive education in Europe;
5. racism in educational practice in the classroom, in the management of schools, teacher education, curriculum development, assessment practice and the making of educational opportunity;
6. the intersections of race with other social factors such as class, gender, sexuality, disability and religion in education;
7. the struggles against racialised and racist forms of education as seen in multicultural education, diversity education, anti-racist education and, most recently, in decolonial education; and, finally,
8. the alternatives to race and racism in education as they are expressed in the anti-racist movement in education around the world.

Following engagements with individual scholars, we, the editors for this volume, have already received many expressions of interest from colleagues for Theme Four on Policy, Five on Racism in Educational Practice and Six on Intersectionality and Race.  We are particularly keen to receive proposals for Theme One on the History of Race, Theme Two: Perspectives on the Theory of Race and Education, Theme Three: The Global Landscape of Race and Education, Theme Seven: Struggles in Education Against Race and Racism in Education and Theme Eight: Alternatives and Futures.

Timeline

While we are open to receiving proposals for any of the themes indicated above, we are particularly keen to have and will consider on a priority basis abstracts which address questions which relate to Themes One, Two, Three, Seven and Eight as described above. Prospective contributors are invited to submit an abstract which is no longer than 300 words. The abstract should clearly indicate which theme the proposed chapter seeks to address. It should have a clear topical focus, a clear statement of the issues that are to be addressed, a short indication of how the topic and issues will be addressed, a summary of the content of the chapter and an indication of how the chapter will be concluded. The deadline for submissions of proposals/abstracts is 30 April 2025. The editors will provide feedback to authors of proposals by the end of May 2025. The authors of successful proposals will have five months in which to develop their chapters. Submissions are due on 31 October 2025. Chapters should not be longer than 6,000 words (excluding references). The editors will be happy to respond to questions about the proposed handbook. Please address them to Crain Soudien at crain.soudien@uct.ac.za. Please also use this email address to submit your abstracts and chapter contributions.

The Editors: Crain Soudien, Uvanney Maylor and Derron Wallace