Professor Aldana and Dean Johnson to Co-Edit Critical Race Theory Book Series

UC Davis Law Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies Co-Directors Raquel Aldana and Kevin R. Johnson will lead a new groundbreaking book series. The University of California Press will publish the critical race theory research initiative.

Scholars will examine the myriad ways in which race is the bedrock of law and social structure in the U.S. through the lens of education, housing, voting, economic opportunity, health and reproductive justice, immigration, policing, and foreign relations.

"They will underscore the importance of teaching critical race perspectives at a time when lawyers are forced to defend fundamental civil liberties and engage in creative legal reforms to liberate us from the oppression of mass incarceration, police violence, voter suppression, hate crimes, and border militarization, to name just a few of today’s systemic racial injustices," according to a UC Press summary of the series.

An esteemed advisory board for the series includes:

-Mario Barnes, Professor of Law, UC Irvine
-Rose Cuison Villazor, Professor of Law and Chancellor's Social Justice Scholar, Rutgers Law School
-Angela Harris, Distinguished Professor of Law Emerita, UC Davis
-Beth Rose Middleton, Professor and Designated Emphasis Chair, UC Davis (Native American Studies)
-Solangel Maldonado, Eleanor Bontecou Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development, Seton Hall
-Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Ryan Roth Gallo and Ernest J. Gallo Dean and Professor of Law, Boston University
-Mary Romero, Professor of Justice Studies and Social Inquiry Emerita, Arizona State (Justice Studies and Social Inquiry)
-Wadie Said, Professor of Law and Dean’s Faculty Fellow, University of Colorado

To submit a proposal, reference these guidelines and email the series co-editors Raquel Aldana and Kevin R. Johnson.

Raquel E. Aldana joined UC Davis in 2017 to serve as the inaugural Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity with a law faculty appointment. She returned to full-time law teaching in 2020. Aldana’s research has focused on transitional justice, criminal justice reforms and sustainable development in Latin America, as well as immigrant rights. Before UC Davis, Aldana was a professor of law at McGeorge School of Law, and the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She served as associate dean for faculty scholarship at McGeorge from 2013-17. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and Harvard Law School.

Kevin R. Johnson is the law school’s dean, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.