Selling ethnicity and race

Since the late twentieth century, non-Caucasian segments of the US population have grown exponentially; studies predict that the ‘white majority’ will turn into a minority after 2050. Ethnicity “sells,” and companies and ethnic groups participate in the representation and marketing of cultural and racial specificities. While demographic changes have thus facilitated the rise of ethnic marketing in recent years, paradoxically, at the same time media representatives postulate a ‘postracial’ or ‘postethnic’ society. The contributions in this collection examine the production and performance of ethnic and racial identities between representational and identity politics, economy, and consumerism. They are particularly interested in how race and ethnicity as categories of difference shift meaning in these discourses and processes. Coming from a range of disciplines, such as cultural and literary studies, ethnic studies, cultural anthropology, and history, the contributors’ case studies address such diverse fields as ethnotourism, ethnicity in visual culture, ethnic marketing and advertising, music, beauty pageants, and law enforcement.