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Book cover of White On White/Black On Black
African Americans - General & Miscellaneous, Race Awareness, Race, Ethnic & Minority Studies - General & Miscellaneous

White On White/Black On Black

by Cornel West, George Yancy (Editor)
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Overview

White on White/Black on Black is a unique contribution to the philosophy of race. The book explores how fourteen philosophers, seven white and seven black, philosophically understand the dynamics of the process of racialization. Combined, the contributions demonstrate different and similar conceptual trajectories of raced identities that emerge from within and across the racial divide. Each of the fourteen philosophers, who share a textual space of exploration, name blackness/whiteness, revealing significant political, cultural, and existential aspects of what it means to be black/white. Through the power of naming and theorizing whiteness and blackness, White on White/Black on Black dares to bring clarity and complexity to our understanding of race identity.

Synopsis

White on White/Black on Black is a unique contribution to the philosophy of race. The text explores how 14 philosophers, 7 white and 7 black, philosophically understand the dynamics of the process of racialization.

About the Author, Cornel West

Educator and philosopher Cornel West is the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University. Known as one of America’s most gifted, provocative, and important public intellectuals, he is the author of the contemporary classic Race Matters, which changed the course of America’s dialogue on race and justice, and the New York Times bestseller Democracy Matters. He is the recipient of the American Book Award and more than 20 honorary degrees.

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Editorials

Choice

Critical race theory needs to be done. In this text, a philosophically grounded critical race theory is done very well. This volume, in which Cornel West offers a foreword, partly serves as a key philosophical intervention onto the scene of critical whiteness studies. Along with the groundbreaking works by David Roediger and David Theo Goldberg, the first half of this text presents white scholars writing on their experiences of, and critical thoughts on, whiteness. Chapters of note include those by Robert Bernasconi, Anna Stubblefield, and Bettina Bergo. The second half of the text is, as can now be expected of Yancy's editorial mastery, brilliant. The black philosophers' contributions to this volume, especially those by Clarence Shole Johnson, Robert Birt, and Kal Alston, offer critical engagements in the discipline known as critical race theory, a domain mistakenly reserved for critical legal scholars, historians, and sociologists. Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

The European Legacy

By calling upon the academic community to value Blackness and challenge white supremacist cultural values, this text provides a provocative contribution to the study of race relations in America today.

The Journal of Speculative Philosophy

White on White/Black on Black presents readers with an array of illustrations of the way in which philosophizing about or from one’s life can, in fact contribute to the living of that life. The book can serve as an invitation to take up the project of theorizing with, through, about, and beyond one’s own life; and to consider theorizing as a tool one might take up in one’s quest for social transformation... a useful, intriguingly-designed contribution to the philosophy of race.

Book Details

Published
June 1, 2005
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Pages
332
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780742514805

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