On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis

385 Pages·2017·16.108 MB·English

by  George Yancy

On Race
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On Race
34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis
George Yancy
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yancy, George, interviewer.
Title: On race : 34 conversations in a time of crisis / George Yancy.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017002553 (print) | LCCN 2017033270 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190498566 (updf) | ISBN 9780190498573 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190498559 (hbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Race—Philosophy. | Race awareness.
Classification: LCC HT1521 (ebook) | LCC HT1521 .Y363 2017 (print) | DDC 305.8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017002553
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
In loving memory of Manomano M. M. Mukungurutse
My dear friend, a remarkable human being, a brilliant philosopher
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments  ix
Contributor Biographies  xi
Introduction: Dangerous Conversations  1
George Yancy
PART I Race and the Critical Space of Black Women’s Voices
bell hooks  15
Patricia Hill Collins  25
Hortense Spillers  37
Joy James  43
Discussion Questions  48
PART II Race and the Naming of Whiteness
Judith Butler  53
Alison Bailey  61
John D. Caputo  73
Shannon Sullivan  81
Craig Irvine  87
Joe Feagin  97
Discussion Questions  103
PART III Race, Pedagogy, and the Domain of the Cultural
Lawrence Blum  107
Dan Flory  117
David Theo Goldberg  131
Discussion Questions  143
PART IV Race, History, Capitalism, Ethics, and Neoliberalism
Noam Chomsky  147
Nancy Fraser  155
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Peter Singer  167
Seyla Benhabib  173
Naomi Zack  179
Charles Mills  185
Falguni A. Sheth  193
Discussion Questions  199
PART V Race Beyond the Black/ White Binary
Linda Martín Alcoff  205
Eduardo Mendieta  213
David Haekwon Kim  225
Emily S. Lee  231
Discussion Questions  236
PART VI Race and Africana Social and Political Frames
Molefi Kete Asante  241
Bill E. Lawson  247
Lucius T. Outlaw Jr.  255
Cornel West  263
Kwame Anthony Appiah  271
Clevis Headley  279
Discussion Questions  292
PART VII Race Beyond the United States
Fiona Nicoll  297
Paul Gilroy  309
Discussion Questions  313
PART VIII Race and Religion: At the Intersections
Charles Johnson  317
Traci C. West  327
Discussion Questions  333
Index  337
[ viii ] Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank Lucy Randall, editor at Oxford University Press, for taking such a keen
interest in this project. Your enthusiasm for this text, its deep relevance and
importance, made the process of bringing it to fruition all the more exciting.
Hannah Doyle, editorial assistant at OUP, thanks for your wonderful logistical
help. Emma Clements, project manager, and her team are to be thanked for
their expertise and enthusiasm. A special thanks to Asha Fradkin for her keen
eyes. Thanks to the anonymous readers/r eviewers for their deep excitement
for this project. I’m appreciative.
Thanks to philosopher Simon Critchley and editor Peter Catapano at the
New York Times, cofounders of The Stone, who have provided an indispensable,
historical, philosophical, and metaphilosophical space for engaging philoso-
phy outside the confines of the academy. My work with the two of you has
been a real honor. Simon, thanks for your philosophical acuity and adventur-
ous ideas. Peter, thanks for your deep editorial insight, knowing where to cut
and where to emphasize. Personally, I would also like to thank Peter for being
such an incredible human being and for reminding me of just how vital it is for
me to, at important times, remain silent, stay calm, and appreciate complex
processes that happen beyond my ego.
To all 34 contributors, thanks for your time, your energy, and your com-
mitment. These conversations are gifts for which I am very thankful. I have
learned much and have modified my thinking accordingly. Your courage is
appreciated during this time of crisis. I am deeply honored for the opportunity
to share this space of dialogue. Given your busy schedules and other commit-
ments, sharing your time with me was generous and much appreciated. And
thanks in advance to all of the readers who will join this specific conversation
by engaging this text, engaging the questions raised, and the ideas advanced.
You, too, are part of this conversation. We all are.
I send special thanks and appreciation to philosopher Kelsey Ward who,
under serious time constraints, came through for me and this project. She
read through the entire manuscript within a very short period of time, devel-
oped conceptually rich discussion questions for all eight sections of the book,
and did so with deep insight, creativity, and philosophical nuance. As Cicero