Nadine Ehlers is Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Georgetown University.

• Introduction1. Racial Disciplinarity2. Racial Knowledges: Securing the Body in Law3. Passing through Racial Performatives4. Domesticating Liminality: Somatic Defiance in Rhinelander v. Rhinelander5. Passing Phantasms: Rhinelander and Ontological Insecurity6. Imagining Racial Agency7. Practicing Problematization: Resignifying RaceBibliographyIndex

"[T]his project fills a major gap in both Critical Race and Foucault studies. It will undoubtedly be cited and engaged for years to come."—Critical Philosophy of Race"Racial Imperatives is a strong tome with a great deal of value across disciplines. Building on her previous scholarly investigations and relying on a robust scholarship to push intellectual boundaries, Ehlers's work is insightful and thought provoking. . . . Scholars that study race in any academic discipline would benefit from the ideas and analysis in this book."—Spectrum"Racial Imperatives . . . is a thoughtful and provocative contribution to the literature of discipline, performativity, and agency as they relate to race."—Foucault Studies"In Racial Imperatives Nadine Ehlers explores the idea that racial identity is a construct both performed by individuals and maintained by the law. . . [Raises] interesting ideas, particularly that 'all identity is a form of passing,' and that all subjects . . . must continually enact their racial identities.June 2015"—Journal of American History