Sweden has a paradoxical history when it comes to race, as a term, as a concept and as a lived reality. In this introduction, we provide a short background on the life of the concept of race in Swedish culture and language within the last century. In addition, we introduce some key concepts and outline the aim and central arguments of the book. From its role as a pioneering nation in race science in the earlier parts of the 20th century, Sweden was equally as pioneering in the latter parts in deracialising public life and discourse, embracing a hegemonic, normative colourblindness. In today’s Sweden, neither conservatives nor progressives, and neither xenophobes nor antiracists can talk about race and hope to be taken seriously. However, things may be in the process of changing, in a situation of escalating tensions between an increasingly superdiversified Swedish population and the emergence of a revitalised far right. In the introduction, we outline six empirically focused chapters which constitute analyses and case studies of both historical and contemporary materials aiming to shed light on some of the most important and pernicious articulations of Swedish colourblindness in a time when this doctrine is becoming increasingly untenable.