One of the two co-authors of Racial Formation in the United States, Michael Omi is a sociologist who taught at the University of California Berkeley. Born in 1951 into a Japanese American family, Omi grew up in San Francisco and received his MA and PhD in sociology from the University of California Santa Cruz. Omi taught sociology and ethnic studies at the University of California Berkeley until he retired. While at UC Berkeley, he was also the associate director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society.

Omi’s academic specializations include racial politics, racial and ethnic identity, and Asian American studies. Besides his work with Racial Formation in the United States, Omi has also published the essays “Once More, With Feeling: Reflections on Racial Formation” for the Modern Language Association of America, “The Changing Meaning of Race” for the essay collection America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences, and “Situating Asian-Americans in the Political Discourse of Affirmative Action” for the essay collection Race and Representation: Affirmative Action.