Dismantling the Racism Machine

by Karen Gaffney

While scholars have been developing valuable research on race and racism for decades, this work does not often reach the beginning college student or the general public, who rarely learn a basic history of race and racism. If we are to dismantle systemic racism and create a more just society, people need a place to begin. This accessible, introductory, and interdisciplinary guide can be one such place. Grounded in critical race theory, this book uses the metaphor of the Racism Machine to highlight that race is a social construct and that racism is a system of oppression based on invented racial categories. It debunks the false ideology that race is biological. As a manual, this book presents clear instructions for understanding the history of race, including whiteness, starting in colonial America, where the elite created a hierarchy of racial categories to maintain their power through a divide-and-conquer strategy. As a toolbox, this book provides a variety of specific action steps that readers can take once they have developed a foundational understanding of the history of white supremacy, a history that includes how the Racism Machine has been recalibrated to perpetuate racism in a supposedly "post-racial" era.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published November 14, 2017

About the author

Dr. Karen Gaffney is Professor of English at Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey, where she teaches Race in American Literature and Popular Culture, along with Women in Literature and composition. She also focuses on anti-racism activism in conference presentations and community workshops. Check out www.dividednolonger.com for resources to support her 2nd edition of her book, Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox, published in 2025 by Routledge. The book is an accessible and interdisciplinary introduction to race and racism with tools for action.

Reviews

[Carina Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in a while you encounter a book that every human should read. This is such a book, especially for Americans. We are mired in so many myths about racism, but there is a way out. In Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox, Dr. Karen Gaffney outlines five clear steps to help readers understand the history of racism, racism today, and the reality of our future.

While only a couple hundred pages, this book can serve as a stand-alone textbook for a course, or as a lesson plan reference guide. The amount of material available is astounding and well organized. Dr. Gaffney's work is also well cited, allowing readers to bibliographically backtrack to their heart's content.

The reading level is appropriate for high school or college, however advanced middle school students will find this accessible as well. There are even K-8 resources in the book of the book.

On a personal note, I found this text invaluable as well. As a minority woman, I assumed I understood racism respectably well having experienced it, but I learned so many things about myself and my own past through Dr. Gaffney's translation of scholarly works "into accessible concepts, history, and action items."

Get this book and read it now!

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great addition to your anti-racism library and a book that I highly recommend to educators who are looking for a helpful resource that at once grounds us in the history of race and racism while providing us with tools to end this destructive construct.