Hi all;
Next week we’ll continue to probe the histories of this idea of race, in different ways. The readings are as follows:
- Armand Marie Leroi, “A Family Tree in Every Gene” New York Times, 14 March, 2005
- Response: R.C. Lewontin, “Confusions about Human Races” SSRC Web Forum, Is Race Real? 7 June, 2006 http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Lewontin/
- W.E.B. Dubois, Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: McClurg & Co., 1903): Chapter 1, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” online at http://www.bartleby.com/114/1.html
- Kwame Anthony Appiah, In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), Ch. 2, Illusions of Race
As you’ll see, each of these writers is trying to come to terms with some kind of a definition of race. What seems to be important to them is the utility of the term: in other words, what does the idea of race do in different contexts, and with different meanings? You might want to make some notes for yourself along those lines. If you choose to do a blog post, write your comments here. The blog posts can really be about whatever you want. If you’d like some guidelines, use them to think through a particular idea, make a critique, raise a question. They’re better if they’re focussed: rather than trying to summarize all of the readings at once, choose one theme or issue or connecting thread and assemble some thoughts about it. The blog posts don’t need to be perfectly tied up essays–you can think about them as ways to start, rather than finish, conversations.
Watch this space for final instructions about our Tuesday discussion. I’ll post them on Monday.
have a great weekend!
Follow