Goldberg was born and raised in South Africa, and earned degrees in economics, politics, and philosophy from the University of Cape Town.

Moving to the United States, he earned a PhD in philosophy from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 1985.

[2] Goldberg is a leading scholar of critical race theory and has delivered invited lectures on this subject at universities across the world (listen to a KPFA interview).

Davidson and Goldberg have published essays promoting the creative and dynamic use of digital technologies to advance research, teaching and learning in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

Goldberg has authored a number of books, including: " The War on Critical Race Theory: Or, the Remaking of Racism (2023) "Dread: Facing Futureless Futures" (2021); Are We All Postracial Yet?