racism | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Ep. 248: Racism and Policing (Al-Saji, Merleau-Ponty, et al) (Part Two)

July 27, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

Continuing on Alia Al-Saji’s “A Phenomenology of Hesitation” (2014) and other things with guest Phil Hopkins.

Can we restructure our (and the police’s) reactions and live with each other? We further explore the psychology of habit and Al-Saji’s notion of hesitation. How does it compare to other types of heistation recommended by philosophies and religions?

Start with part one, or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition. Includes a preview of our Citizen Hang.

End song: “Every Man’s Burden” by Dusty Wright, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #89.

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Ep. 248: Racism and Policing (Al-Saji, Merleau-Ponty, et al) (Part One)

July 20, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On Alia Al-Saji’s “A Phenomenology of Hesitation” (2014), bits of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception (1945) and Linda Martín Alcoff’s Visible Identities (2006), plus Alex Vitale’s The End of Policing (2017).

Is there subconscious racism, and how might we root it out and fix our policing problems? Ex-cop Phil Hopkins joins to look at how phenomenology can help.

Don’t wait for part two, get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

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Ep. 248: Racism and Policing (Al-Saji, Merleau-Ponty, et al) (Citizen Edition)

July 20, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 24 Comments

On Alia Al-Saji’s “A Phenomenology of Hesitation” (2014) bits of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception (1945) and Linda Martín Alcoff’s Visible Identities (2006), plus Alex Vitale’s The End of Policing (2017).

Is there subconscious racism, and how might we root it out and fix our policing problems? Ex-cop Phil Hopkins joins to look at how phenomenology can help.

End song: “Every Man’s Burden” by Dusty Wright, who appears on Nakedly Examined Music #89.

Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part Two)

March 18, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

Continuing on Jean-Paul Sartre’s Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946).

Is there an “authentic” way to respond to persecution? As part of his critique of anti-semitism, Sartre criticized the responses of some Jews to this situation, e.g. denying that the persecution exists, pretending to not be Jewish, or in any way accepting the terms of anti-semitism and setting up one’s life in reaction to it. Sartre instead recommends solidarity and “concrete liberalism,” which we try to figure out.

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Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Citizen Edition)

March 10, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On Jean-Paul Sartre’s Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946) and “Black Orpheus” (1948).

How can we best understand the psychology of racism and reactions to it? Sartre not only condemns anti-Semitism as denying the facts of the human condition (the responsibility for fixing problems and not blaming them on a demonized other), he also thinks that the victims of oppression can be inauthentic by denying their situation or otherwise being reactive to the racist’s attitude. “Black Orpheus” further explores this idea in characterizing the “negritude” of black poetry and how uncovering one’s negritude leads to solidarity and hence political and psychological change.

End song: “Punch Bag” by Godley & Creme as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #3.

Episode 139: bell hooks on Racism/Sexism

May 9, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 13 Comments

On Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981) and Black Looks: Race and Representation (1992, Intro, Ch. 3, 11).

How do these pernicious forces interact? hooks describes black women as having been excluded from both mainstream historical feminism (led by white women) and black civil rights struggles (permeated with patriarchy), and this “silencing” creates challenges for self-actualization and social justice. The solution: media critique of stereotyped images and personally connecting to a historical narrative of liberation. With guest Myisha Cherry, host of the UnMute Podcast.

End song: “Stories” by Mark Lint and Steve Petrinko (2011).

Episode 139: bell hooks on Racism/Sexism (Citizen Edition)

May 8, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981) and Black Looks: Race and Representation (1992, Intro, Ch. 3, 11).

End song: “Stories” by Mark Lint and Steve Petrinko (2011).

In Dreams

February 3, 2016 by Jay Jeffers 4 Comments

Exploration of the big idea that permeates Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me.

On the Identity Politics of Belly Dancing

March 11, 2014 by Wes Alwan 38 Comments

Novelist Randa Jarrar has been mocked – and accused of racism – for telling the world that she “can’t stand” white belly dancers. As Eugene Volokh notes, if we were to universalize Jarrar’s objections to “cultural appropriation,” then we might object to East Asian cellists or Japanese productions of Shakespeare, rather than treating the arts as they ought to be Continue Reading …

Philosophy of Race through Comedy

April 10, 2012 by Law Ware Twitter: @law_ware 8 Comments

[Editor’s Note: This post is a follow-up on some of the discussion near the end of ep. 52.] I have often found that great comedy can be deeply philosophical. Wittgenstein once said that one could write a substantial work of philosophy consisting only of jokes. This is certainly true when it comes to philosophy of race. The following are some Continue Reading …

America’s Epidemic of Enlightened Racism

April 9, 2012 by Wes Alwan 35 Comments

John Derbyshire has been fired from the National Review for an openly racist column on how white people should advise their children with respect to “blacks”: for the most part, avoid them. Because on the whole, they are unintelligent, antisocial, hostile, and dangerous. Or as he puts it, avoid “concentrations of blacks” or places “swamped with blacks,” and leave a place Continue Reading …