In Living Color:

 Exploring the Complexities of Colorism in the Twenty-First Century

Under Contract with Bloomsbury Publishing

Edited by

Amir A. Gilmore, Washington State University

Vikki Carpenter, Heritage University

The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line, the question as to how far differences of race-which show themselves chiefly in the color of the skin and the texture of the hair

—W.E.B. Du Bois (1900)

Are there multiple forms or species of racism or simply variations of a fundamental structure?

—Jared Sexton (2012)

I have only one solution: to rise above this absurd drama that others have staged around me

—Frantz Fanon (1952) 

“We do not see color.” Invoked ad nauseum by media pundits, politicians, and global citizenry, this discursive phrase is leveraged as a justified public defense against accusations of racism and the “declining significance” of race and racism. These incredulous claims of nonracialism and post-racialism illuminate the significant social phenomenon and philosophy of color-evasiveness—an ideology that purports race and racism are nonfactors in shaping people’s life chances (Bonilla-Silva, 2006). Seemingly, race and racism would disappear if people stopped seeing it. This sentiment is illogical and disingenuous because color-coded ethnoracial inequalities shade almost every facet of social life in the United States (and globally) due to the pernicious manifestations of the color line (Du Bois, 1900).

Race matters (West, 1991), but so does skin color. While related conceptually, race and color are not synonymous. Coined by Alice Walker (1983), colorism is the “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color” (p. 3). As a vestige of colonialism and exportation of pathology, colorism’s racial calculus (Hartman, 2008) is as injurious as racism (Ware, 2013). Colorism is an absurd drama because it substitutes skin color for race as a social marker for enthoracial categories (Hunter, 2007; Monk, 2021). As Jones (2009) denoted, “while racism may affect an individual regardless of the person’s color, two individuals belonging to the same ethnoracial category may face differential treatment due to their varying skin tones” (p. 223). The color continuum of light and dark skin serves as a proxy for a superior or inferior race, preserving similar social pathologies and racial quality-of-life outcomes (Hall, 2018; Monk, 2021). Colorism is the hidden gatekeeper augmenting life outcomes across many significant social domains, such as education, criminal justice, immigration, healthcare, employment, banking, and marriage (Monk, 2021; Ware, 2013). Even as societies stride toward mixed-race futures (Sexton, 2008), the permanence of racial hierarchies will endure in the 21st century because skin tone will continue to serve as a proxy to race. In society’s racial order of things, color and colorism will employ the same hierarchy governing racism (Ware, 2013) because colorism is the sine qua non to racism.

Often foreclosed as a Black-white issue within the racial polity of the United States’s social-political-juridical structures (Rondilla & Spickard, 2007; Hunter, 2007), colorism is a global hegemonic mainstay (Hall, 2018). Despite verbal assertions of people not seeing race or color, there is no shortage of examples showcasing the geographic reach of skin tone stratification, as cases exist in India (Melwani, 2007), Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan (Li, Min, & Beck, 2008); Mexico (Hernandez, 2001), Brazil (Nascimento, 2007), and the Dominican Republic (Roth, 2008). The valorization of Eurocentric physical features as the zenith of humanity and the denigration of dark-complexioned people highlights that color discrimination is a cultural and political fact worldwide (Hall, 2018).

Despite the evidence of scholars documenting skin complexion as a determinant of social conditions (Du Bois, 1899, 1903; Frazier, 1957; Johnson, 1934; Davis, Gardner, & Gardner, 1941; Myrdal, 1944; Fanon, 1952; Brown, 1965; Russell, Wilson, & Hall, 1992; Banks, 2000; Hochschild, 2006; Rondilla & Spickard, 2007; Hall, 2008, 2010; Monroe, 2016; Keith & Monroe, 2016; Hunter, 2016), the attempts to characterize this multifaceted and pernicious social phenomenon has fallen secondary to social science research due to the primacy and gravity of race. This “academic shading” of color obscures the analysis of how skin color is relevant to ethnoracial life chances and outcomes. Coupled with the colorism’s media (in)visibility and lack of political recognition, this foreclosure is quite concerning (Monk, 2021). What is to be done about this absurd drama that surrounds us? It is imperative that we “theorize in living color” to address these enduring and pernicious attitudes surrounding skin tone to mitigate them and improve ethnoracial inequalities. This edited volume will illuminate the continuously unfolding and multifaceted manifestations of skin tone stratification in the U.S. and worldwide. While this edited volume may not provide formative solutions, it will provide perspectives and analysis that will allow us to “rise above” (even temporarily) the absurd drama of colorism.

Specific subtopics that we want the edited volume to cover:

• Skin tone as a post-colonial racialized hierarchy and the policing of ethnoracial boundaries
• “Blanqueamiento’’ and the globalization of skin whitening (the Bleach Syndrome) as ideology and practice
• Anti-Blackness in the tri-racial order (see Bonilla Silva, 2006)
• Blood quantum, racial purity, ancestry testing (e.g., 23 & Me), and one-drop rules
• Colorism, gender, and gender performance
• Colorism, fashion, and beauty standards 
• The psychodynamics of colonialism, color, sexuality, and desire
• Race-shifting, Blackfishing, and racial ambiguity in education and popular culture
• Colorism within popular culture, sports, and digital media (including AI)
• The complexity of identity development within biracial and multiracial people
• Skin tone, law, labor, and immigration
• Color Struck, Racial Passings, and “honorary white people”
• Miscegenation laws, interracial relationships, and the endowment of skin tone
• Colorism and criminal justice
• Colorism and self-hate racial pathology

Each book chapter will be approximately 5,500 words (not inclusive of references). While (counter)narrative-based analysis of colorism are significant, this edited volume will primarily seek contributions that are conceptual/theoretical. We are also interested in empirical contributions as well. If interested, please submit a 250-word book chapter proposal by June 30th, 2025, via email to amir.gilmore@wsu.edu and carpenter_v@heritage.edu.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us via email.

Thank you for your time in advance.

Amir Gilmore & Vikki Carpenter