The Racialized Brain

Race is a fundamental reality of life. It shapes our experiences and interactions whether we are conscious of it or not. But does this mean that humans are wired for racism from birth? Is racial bias inevitable? This sharp-sighted book offers nuanced answers to such impactful questions by unfolding the ways the human brain learns and enables the racial patterning of our societies.

Taking advantage of her interdisciplinary expertise in both sociology and the neurosciences, Rengin Firat offers a compelling explanation of how the two-way process between society and the brain shapes racial perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. She shows that we do not have an in-built “race center” in our brain. Racial categorization is a learned capacity, interpreted by our brains through the lens of structural racism and the legacies of slavery and global colonialism.

Importantly, this means that racial bias is not unavoidable or fixed. Our brains are malleable. And so Firat uncovers ways to rewire our brains to unlearn racism and also to reduce the physiological harms it causes to individuals. This “inside-out” and “outside-in” approach, merging sociological and neuroscientific understandings, provides a complete story of the racial life of our brains.