An important contribution on multiple disciplinary fronts, Niya Pickett Miller presents a compelling look at the intersections of rhetoric, race, and identity through an understudied context, albinism. Miller’s book sheds light on albinism not as a medical condition, rather as a rhetorical construct. The author weaves an education of albinism into a critical read of popular media texts, providing insight on the ways in which racial identity and albinism become conflated. Miller exposes popular media’s portrayal of albinism as a trope inappropriately deployed for humor or fear, providing all readers a reminder of the consequences of albinism when mediated in this way.

Casey M. Maugh Funderburk, The University of Southern Mississippi

Starting with her personal connections to albinism, Niya Pickett Miller quickly turns this study into a compellingly critical look at whiteness, blackness, and all of the ways that society “races” individuals. Through her critical readings of various media texts, the author explores how race is often visualized. Because of its visual markings, albinism is often interpreted as a lack of race, making the seemingly random social construction of race apparent. Miller not only provides the reader with an important look at an unexplored approach to race, but does so through texts that are widely recognized.

Wendy Atkins-Sayre, University of Southern Mississippi