Racism and ‘Free Speech’

Essential. A highly engaging read that incisively skewers liberal free speech shibboleths. It is both a primer on liberalism, free speech, racism, philosophy of language and an incisive intervention into contemporary debates. * Dr Anthony Leaker, University of Brighton, UK *Leading us through the intricacies of liberal political theory, Anshuman Mondal manages to deconstruct this theoretical history of ideas in order to illuminate present debates on so-called “cancel culture” and attended terms like “identity politics.” The book unpicks how these terms are weaponised liberal discourse, amongst other things. This is a work of great complexity and clarity. * Michael R. Griffiths, University of Wollongong, Australia *Mondal’s Racism and ‘Free Speech’ [reveals] the contradictions that underlie liberal conceptions of freedom and highlight[s] the pitfalls inherent in trying to use these rhetorics of ‘free speech’ and ‘choice’ to achieve anything close to genuine freedom and equality. * Marx & Philosophy Review of Books *

Anshuman A. Mondal is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of East Anglia. His research focusses on the construction of modern social and political identities, and the cultural politics attendant upon them. His books include Nationalism and Post-colonial Identity: Culture and Ideology in India and Egypt (2003), Amitav Ghosh (2007), and Young British Muslim Voices (2008). Since 2008, he has published extensively on the politics of ‘free speech’ and is the author of Islam and Controversy: The Politics of Free Speech after Rushdie (2014).