The Trouble with Unity

Just out from the University of Kentucky Press and sporting a dazzling cover design is Radical Future Pasts: Untimely Political Theory, edited by three extraordinary scholars: Rom Coles, Mark Reinhardt, and George Shulman. It's a wide-ranging collection of essays inspired by the work of UCSC and Duke political theorist Peter Euben. The publisher characterizes the book as seeking "to open up new possibilities for theoretical inquiries and engagements with practical political struggles.… Rather than accept traditional ideas about the political past, the contributors reinterpret canonical and current texts to demonstrate fresh interpretations and narratives."

Peter Euben is the person primarily responsible for my becoming a political theorist—especially the kind of political theorist who puts contemporary race and culture in conversation with canonical work—and has remained a close friend and mentor; I was honored to participate in the 2012 event "Tragic Vision, Democratic Hope: A Conference in Honor of J. Peter Euben" and to contribute to this volume. My chapter is titled "Distinguishing Racial Presence from Racial Justice: The Political Consequences of Thinking Aesthetically."