Rethinking Critical Race Theory

This open access book outlines a framework to explain how a world system of white supremacy is reproduced through education at national and local levels. This contribution thus addresses the important need for critical race education scholarship that is not limited by nationally-framed or American-centric perspectives. Written in an accessible manner, the framework recognises that racism takes hold in diverse ways in local and national educational contexts, but is ultimately rooted in global white supremacy. Forging links between Critical Race Theory and decolonial thought, this framework explains how national racialized social systems are reproduced through global structures, knowledge, and feelings; and articulates how anti-racism in education relies on forging transnational solidarities. To illustrate the relevance and significance of this framework, the book engages with how educational systems throughout the world are implicated in sustaining global anti-Muslim racism in a time of Palestinian genocide. Addressing a timely topic and gap in the literature, this book will provide an invaluable resource to postgraduate students and academics developing critical scholarship that explains and resists the global nature of race and racism in education.


Tyler Denmead is University Associate Professor in Education at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow and Dean of College at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He is the author of The Creative Underclass: Youth, Race, and the Gentrifying City (2019), and the executive editor of the Cambridge Journal of Education.

Amina Shareef is a scholar of anti-Muslim racism, gender, counter-extremism, and education. Her work is published on public platforms including Al-Jazeera, The Middle East Eye, Byline Times, and The Thinking Muslim.  She is Co-Director of the Community Policy Forum and research assistant in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK.