Comments on: Philosophy of Race: Which Texts?

By: Celucien Joseph

Celucien Joseph — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:24:16 +0000

The Idea of Race: Hacket Readings in Philosophy, Robert Bernasconi, Tommy L. Lott (eds)

Racism and Philosophy, Susan E. Babbit and Sue Campbell (eds)

Race: A Theological Account, J. K. Carter (This is also a phisolophical account too)

Hope that helps.

By: Fred

Fred — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:19:28 +0000

it’s more literary than philosophical, but you might look at The White Image in the Black Mind by Jane Davis…

By: Cynthia R. Nielsen

Cynthia R. Nielsen — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:00:11 +0000

Thanks to all for offering your suggestions. If you happen to come across any more over the course of the year, please send them my way!

By: Dave Belcher

Dave Belcher — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:07:22 +0000

p.s. Fernando Segovia used both of these texts as well as Fenton, Ethnicity, in a class my wife Jodi took with him on race, ethnicity, and ideology at Vandy…these are the two she recommended, though I have only thumbed through them. So I guess these are also “unread” suggestions! Sorry!

By: Dave Belcher

Dave Belcher — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:05:08 +0000

Robert Miles and Malcolm Brown, Racism in the “Key Ideas” series (New York: Routledge, 2003, 2nd edition).
–> Comes at the issue from a more “sociological” perspective, discusses institutional racism at length, and methods of representation (see esp. the chapter on “Representations of the Other”)…more “introductory,” though still rigorous.

Gay L. Byron, Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature (New York: Routledge, 2002)
–> Comes at the issue from a decidedly “biblical” and/or “theological” perspective, and as the title suggests homes in on symbolic blackness as a socio-political construct in earl Christian literature (primarily in Scriptures, but also in loads of early patristic and Greco-Roman literature as well)…more of an “advanced” study.

Hope these help!

By: John Macready

John Macready — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:52:02 +0000

Cynthia,

Following, Chris, I will recommend an unread book on my shelf titled Race: The History of an Idea in the West by Ivan Hannaford.

Kind Regards,

John

By: Christopher T. Haley

Christopher T. Haley — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:32:54 +0000

I’m going to be that guy who recommends a book he has not yet read, and suggest Eric Voegelin’s History of the Race Idea. Like I said, I haven’t read it; but knowing Voegelin, I am confident that I will, at the very least, be extremely interesting. (and maybe you’re reading it will give me incentive to pick it up finally).

By: John Macready

John Macready — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:37:14 +0000

You may want to check out:

Race Matters by Cornel West
The Nature of Prejudice by Gordon Allport
Racist Culture: Philosophy and the Politics of Meaning by David Theo Goldberg

I will check my shelves for more.

Also do a Google search for “castas” and see how race was “imaged” in colonial paintings.