Marcia Dawkins #BEA12 Interview Re Clearly Invisible



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Dr. Dawkins gives Book Expo America a sneak peek of her new book Clearly Invisible: Racial Passing and the Color of Cultural Identity. Among other things, Marcia explains why a "white supremacist passing as white" isn't a typo, it's the hook of the book.

A pioneering work in the study of race and culture, Marcia Dawkins reveals that everyone passes -- not just racial minorities -- and that passing has been occurring for millennia. Clearly Invisible retells contemporary expressions and historically significant occurrences of individuals called passers. Along the way, Dawkins traces passing's legal, political, and literary manifestations, questioning whether passing can be a form of empowerment (even while implying secrecy) and suggesting that passing could be one of the first expressions of multiracial identity in the U.S. as it seeks its own social standing.