IMAGINING THE POST-RACIAL SOCIETY: RACE AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT IN MOHSIN HAMID'S THE LAST WHITE MAN

Abstract

Mohsin Hamid's The Last White Man (2022) reimagines contemporary racial discourse through an extraordinary fictional premise in which white individuals gradually awaken with dark skin. Rather than interpreting race as an immutable biological characteristic, the novel exposes its ideological foundations by demonstrating that racial identities derive meaning from historical, political, and cultural systems of power. This article examines Hamid's novel through the theoretical perspectives of Critical Race Theory and racial formation theory to investigate how the narrative deconstructs whiteness and imagines the possibility of a post-racial society. Employing qualitative textual analysis, the study explores the transformation of social institutions, interpersonal relationships, and collective identities following the disappearance of conventional racial categories. The findings indicate that Hamid does not advocate a simplistic vision of racial harmony; instead, he demonstrates that genuine post-racial transformation requires dismantling institutional privilege, confronting historical inequalities, and reconstructing social relationships through empathy rather than inherited racial hierarchy. The novel ultimately challenges readers to recognize race as a socially constructed mechanism of power while envisioning more inclusive forms of human coexistence. By integrating Critical Race Theory with contemporary literary criticism, this article contributes to ongoing debates concerning race, identity, globalization, and speculative fiction in the twenty-first century.