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The social and legal relevance of racial passing appears to be fading as we ostensibly enter a color-blind, post-race era. During the "Age of Obama," the notion of passing in our multi-racial society seems to many to be antiquated and unnecessary. As the nation has moved beyond state-sanctioned racial discrimination, many believe that the country also has moved beyond the need for a legal dialogue on racial passing and ambiguity. This "retreat from race," exemplified in part by the apparent declining significance of racial passing, proclaims that the state no longer should consider race when interpreting the law or incorporating democratic values of equality and opportunity. This Essay, however, argues that the continued phenomenon of racial passing can be utilized as a conceptual vehicle to destabilize and de-legitimatize the post-racial agenda.

The article "Post-Post-Black?" unfolds two aspects with which contemporary black artists and academics are confronted: the prevailing racism and stereotypes about the work by black artists and scholars, and the advanced scholarship and artistic practices that try to dispose discourses of identity in order to embrace more universal subjects. Two currently used terms that are applied to describe black artists—post-black and Afropolitan—are discussed from a perspective that questions their universal applicability and raises attention to the heterotemporal aspects of being black. Heterotemporal refers to the synchronicity of being black in the contemporary, which includes ideology, space, time, and history. This history is inescapable because, however advanced the scholarship may become, it has to connect to the context in which it is performed as well as embrace the fact that this paradox of prevailing racism and ignorance is one of the most challenging tasks for future black artists and academics.

Book reviewed in this article: Marxism in the Postmodern Age: Confronting the New World Order, edited by Antonio Callari, Stephen Cullenberg, and Carole Biewener. New York: Guilford, 1995, 560 pages. Cloth $49.95; paper $19.95. After Marxism, by Ronald Aronson. New York: Guilford, 1995, 321 pages. Paper $18.95. The Semiotic Self: by Norbert Wiley. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994, 250 pages. Cloth, $39.95; paper, $19.95. Reshaping the Female Body: The Dilemma of'Cosmetic Surgery, by Kathy Davis. New York and London: Routledge, 1995, 206 pages. Cloth $55.00; paper $16.95. Fear of Crime: Interpreting Victimization Risk, by Kenneth F. Ferraro. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995, 179 pages. Paper, $19.95 Auto Opium: A Social History of American Automobile Design, by David Gartman. London and New York: Routledge, 1994, 264 pages. Paper, $17.95. Berefi of Reason: On the Decline of Social Thought and Prospects for Its Renewal, by Eugene Halton. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995, 304 pages. Cloth, $39.95. A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882–1930, by Stewart E. Tolnay and E. M. Beck. University of Illinois Press, 1995. Cloth, $49.95; paper, $19.95. Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945–1960, by Elizabeth A. Fones‐Wolf. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994, 307 pages. Cloth, $49.95; paper, $16.95. The Executive Way: Conflict Management in Corporations, by Calvin Morrill. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Cloth, $29.95.

I had an odd intellectual experience recently. A US high school student wrote to me as part of an assignment, asking for my thoughts on Brave New World, and its current relevance. I replied talking about the role of "Our Ford", and Gramsci's contemporary concept of Fordism. That got me thinking about post-Fordism, and then […]

"What next?" may not be an untimely question to ask as the map-makers scramble to keep up with the rush of events cascading a myriad of changes upon these custodians of the here and now. No sooner have they marked a new revision of a border, noted the latest alteration of a name or shift of a capital, than yet another tremor forces them to print anew a further updated edition to reflect the consequences of the most recent shock wave to effect an ever shorter status quo. Long gone are the days of Soviet "stability," so long, in fact, that it is time to take stock and answer the gnawing question "Where are we?" more accurately than with the increasingly vague "In the 'post-Soviet' period." "Quid tum? What next?" deserves a more precise reply.