Racial Formation in Contemporary American National Identity

The American Philosophical Association approached me to convene a colloquium on race and ethnicity for its Pacific Division Meeting in March 1995. I set about putting together an interdisciplinary panel discussion- conceived as a conversation- on racial formation in contemporary American national identity. The conversation took place at the Miyako Hotel, San Francisco, March 30, 1995. What follows is an edited transcript of the proceedings. Part II of the conversation will appear in Social Identities 2 (2, Spring) 1996. David Theo Goldberg.