Living Alterities: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and Race (SUNY series, Philosophy and Race)

Philosophers consider race and racism from the perspective of lived, bodily experience. Broadening the philosophical conversation about race and racism, Living Alterities considers how people’s racial embodiment affects their day-to-day lived experiences, the lived experiences of individuals marked by race interacting with and responding to others marked by race, and the tensions that arise between different spheres of a single person’s identity. Drawing on phenomenology and the work of thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Iris Marion Young, the essays address the embodiment experiences of African Americans, Muslims, Asian Americans, Latinas, Jews, and white Americans. The volume’s focus on specific situations, temporalities, and encounters provides important context for understanding how race operates in people’s lives in ordinary settings like classrooms, dorm rooms, borderlands, elevators, and families. “This is a valuable book for both graduate and undergraduate students in philosophy and race studies ... Highly recommended.” — CHOICE Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Race and the Relevance of Embodiment......Page 10 Embodiment in General......Page 11 Embodiment in its Particularity......Page 14 Phenomenology......Page 17 The Collection of Essays......Page 19 Notes......Page 24 Chapter 1: Materializing Race......Page 28 “Materialism” in Marxist Theory......Page 29 Alcoff on Materialism......Page 32 Race as Material: Differential Access to Economic Opportunities and Wealth......Page 33 Race as Material: A (Social) Ontological Indicator......Page 39 Notes......Page 47 Introduction......Page 52 Clicking Sounds......Page 57 Race as Lived......Page 59 Black Body as “Thing”......Page 61 The Elevator Scenario......Page 63 Conclusion: Being in Crisis......Page 68 Notes......Page 71 Chapter 3: Race/Gender and the Philosopher’s Body......Page 74 Understanding the History of the Particularities of Race, Gender, and Philosophy......Page 78 A History of the Black Woman’s Body and Mind......Page 81 Beethoven and the Philosopher’s Body......Page 84 Notes......Page 86 Introduction......Page 88 Undoing Culture......Page 94 Notes......Page 104 Chapter 5: Shame and Self-Revision in Asian American Assimilation,......Page 112 The Politics of Assimilation: Preliminary Thoughts......Page 113 Incorporative Assimilation and Liberal Orientalism......Page 118 Emotion, Self-Evaluative Emotion, and Phenomenology......Page 121 Identity Assimilation, Emotions, and Strategies of Self-Making......Page 128 Notes......Page 134 Chapter 6: A Phenomenology of Hesitation: Interrupting Racializing Habits of Seeing......Page 142 1. A Phenomenology of Racializing Vision......Page 145 2. Racializing Affect......Page 149 3. Hesitation and Affect......Page 151 4. Hesitation and Bodily “I Can”......Page 159 5. A Phenomenology of Critical-Ethical Vision......Page 164 Notes......Page 171 Chapter 7: Hometactics: Self-Mapping, Belonging, and the Home Question......Page 182 Part I: Belonging, Location, and Multiplicitous Selfhood......Page 184 Part II: Hometactics......Page 190 Notes......Page 195 Chapter 8: Walling Racialized Bodies Out: Border Versus Boundary at La Frontera......Page 198 Edges Matter......Page 199 Two Main Forms of Edge......Page 200 Border Versus Boundary in the Evolution of La Frontera......Page 201 Constituting the Full Spectrum......Page 206 When Borders Become Boundary-Like......Page 209 The Fate of Borders......Page 211 The Intertwining of Borders and Boundaries......Page 213 Racializing and Racialized Bodies at the Border......Page 215 Notes......Page 219 Chapter 9: Pride and Prejudice: Ambiguous Racial, Religious, and Ethnic Identities of Jewish Bodies......Page 222 The Overdetermination of Jewish Bodies......Page 226 Notes......Page 237 Introduction......Page 242 Phenomenology and the Body......Page 243 The Body Generates Space and Time......Page 245 Responsibility for a Situation......Page 251 The Benefits of Whiteness in a Situation......Page 254 Notes......Page 257 Chapter 11: The Future of Whiteness......Page 264 I. Demographic Realities......Page 265 II. The Experience of Whiteness......Page 267 III. A Relational Substance......Page 272 IV. A Realistic Realism......Page 274 V. White Double Consciousness......Page 280 Notes......Page 287 Contributors......Page 292 Index......Page 296 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 Race and the Relevance of Embodiment 10 Embodiment in General 11 Embodiment in its Particularity 14 Phenomenology 17 The Collection of Essays 19 Notes 24 Chapter 1: Materializing Race 28 “Materialism” in Marxist Theory 29 Alcoff on Materialism 32 Race as Material: Differential Access to Economic Opportunities and Wealth 33 Race as Material: A (Social) Ontological Indicator 39 Notes 47 Chapter 2: White Gazes: What It Feels Like to Be an Essence 52 Introduction 52 Clicking Sounds 57 Race as Lived 59 Black Body as “Thing” 61 The Elevator Scenario 63 Conclusion: Being in Crisis 68 Notes 71 Chapter 3: Race/Gender and the Philosopher’s Body 74 Understanding the History of the Particularities of Race, Gender, and Philosophy 78 A History of the Black Woman’s Body and Mind 81 Beethoven and the Philosopher’s Body 84 Notes 86 Chapter 4: Among Family Woman: Sati, Postcolonial Feminism, and the Body, 88 Introduction 88 Undoing Culture 94 Notes 104 Chapter 5: Shame and Self-Revision in Asian American Assimilation, 112 The Politics of Assimilation: Preliminary Thoughts 113 Incorporative Assimilation and Liberal Orientalism 118 Emotion, Self-Evaluative Emotion, and Phenomenology 121 Identity Assimilation, Emotions, and Strategies of Self-Making 128 Notes 134 Chapter 6: A Phenomenology of Hesitation: Interrupting Racializing Habits of Seeing 142 1. A Phenomenology of Racializing Vision 145 2. Racializing Affect 149 3. Hesitation and Affect 151 4. Hesitation and Bodily “I Can” 159 5. A Phenomenology of Critical-Ethical Vision 164 Notes 171 Chapter 7: Hometactics: Self-Mapping, Belonging, and the Home Question 182 Part I: Belonging, Location, and Multiplicitous Selfhood 184 Part II: Hometactics 190 Acknowledgments 195 Notes 195 Chapter 8: Walling Racialized Bodies Out: Border Versus Boundary at La Frontera 198 Edges Matter 199 Two Main Forms of Edge 200 Border Versus Boundary in the Evolution of La Frontera 201 Constituting the Full Spectrum 206 When Borders Become Boundary-Like 209 The Fate of Borders 211 The Intertwining of Borders and Boundaries 213 Racializing and Racialized Bodies at the Border 215 Notes 219 Chapter 9: Pride and Prejudice: Ambiguous Racial, Religious, and Ethnic Identities of Jewish Bodies 222 The Overdetermination of Jewish Bodies 226 Notes 237 Chapter 10: Body Movement and Responsibility for a Situation 242 Introduction 242 Phenomenology and the Body 243 The Body Generates Space and Time 245 Responsibility for a Situation 251 The Benefits of Whiteness in a Situation 254 Conclusion 257 Notes 257 Chapter 11: The Future of Whiteness 264 I. Demographic Realities 265 II. The Experience of Whiteness 267 III. A Relational Substance 272 IV. A Realistic Realism 274 V. White Double Consciousness 280 Notes 287 Contributors 292 Index 296 "Broadening the philosophical conversation about race and racism, Living Alterities considers how people's racial embodiment affects their day-to-day lived experiences, the lived experiences of individuals marked by race interacting with and responding to others marked by race, and the tensions that arise between different spheres of a single person's identity. Drawing on phenomenology and the work of thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Iris Marion Young, the essays address the embodiment experiences of African Americans, Muslims, Asian Americans, Latinas, Jews, and white Americans. The volume's focus on specific situations, temporalities, and encounters provides important context for understanding how race operates in people's lives in ordinary settings like classrooms, dorm rooms, borderlands, elevators, and families."--Publisher's description