Race on the Move

"I certainly recommend Race on the Move. I particularly appreciated the way in which Joseph resisted an over-simplistic demonization of the racial democracy ideology as producing a generalized denial of racism; much to the contrary, her subjects had no problem recognizing structural racism. I also sensed a deep respect for her research subjects and their ways of understanding the world . . . [Joseph] masterfully framed these narratives and showed how they engage theory, but did so in such harmony with the subjects' voices as to not overpower or muddle them. Her transnational racial optic reveals itself to be a formidable analytic tool." -- Stanley R. Bailey * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
"Sociologist Joseph (Stony Brook Univ.) presents a convincing case of a 'transnational racial optic' being developed among Brazilian migrants . . . This study reminds readers of how powerful racism and anti-blackness continue to be and that a transnational framework is crucial for analyzing how race operates within nations as well as hemispherically . . . Recommended." -- K.Y. Perry * CHOICE *
"A highly original analysis and major contribution to global and comparative studies of racial formation. Race on the Move not only provides a compelling means of framing how migrants, and specifically Brazilian return migrants, negotiate race transnationally, but more importantly, offers a masterful examination of racial formation across borders." -- G. Reginald Daniel * University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Race and Multiraciality in Brazil and the United States *
"Race on the Move takes a bold step in comparative studies of race in everyday life. Joseph's nuanced ethnography is more than a comparison of two countries. She creatively shows how the migration of workers and intellectuals between Brazil and the United States reshapes both their personal racial experiences and the broader racial context of Brazil." -- David Scott FitzGerald * University of California, San Diego and author of Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas *
"Joseph gives us a masterful, carefully executed, finely parsed, and absolutely first-rate sociological analysis of the intersection of transnationalism and race. Her work drives home the profoundly social and cultural determination of race in any given national context, both highlighting the tenacious power of perceived racial difference and shattering the idea that complex color gradations, group mixture, and hybridity inevitably undermine the significance of race: they don't." -- Lawrence D. Bobo, W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences * Harvard University *
"This study sheds light on how Brazilian immigrants and returnees understand racial dynamics through transnationalism....Joseph correctly points out, the transnational optic has changed racial categories, discrimination, stratification, and has evaluated social positions within and without the Brazilian migration process." -- Alan P. Marcus * Luso-Brazilian Review *