Gender, Race and Philosophy: The Blog

Fall 2013 Symposium: Anderson on Integration

Symposium on Elizabeth Anderson's book The Imperative of Integration published here.

More than forty years have passed since Congress, in response to the Civil Rights Movement, enacted sweeping antidiscrimination laws in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. As a signal achievement of that legacy, in 2008, Americans elected their first African American president. Some would argue that we have finally arrived at a postracial America, but The Imperative of Integration indicates otherwise. Elizabeth Anderson demonstrates that, despite progress toward racial equality, African Americans remain disadvantaged on virtually all measures of well-being. Segregation remains a key cause of these problems, and Anderson skillfully shows why racial integration is needed to address these issues. Weaving together extensive social science findings--in economics, sociology, and psychology--with political theory, this book provides a compelling argument for reviving the ideal of racial integration to overcome injustice and inequality, and to build a better democracy.

Considering the effects of segregation and integration across multiple social arenas, Anderson exposes the deficiencies of racial views on both the right and the left. She reveals the limitations of conservative explanations for black disadvantage in terms of cultural pathology within the black community and explains why color blindness is morally misguided. Multicultural celebrations of group differences are also not enough to solve our racial problems. Anderson provides a distinctive rationale for affirmative action as a tool for promoting integration, and explores how integration can be practiced beyond affirmative action.

Offering an expansive model for practicing political philosophy in close collaboration with the social sciences, this book is a trenchant examination of how racial integration can lead to a more robust and responsive democracy.

 

New Symposium on Thomas McCarthy, Race, Empire and the Idea of Human Development (2009)

 

Find the symposium here.

Gooding-Williams on C-SPAN

Interview with Robert Gooding-Williams on his recent book, In the Shadow of Du Bois: Afro-Modern Political Thought in America.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/299941-4#

New Book - Feminist Epistemology and Phil Science: Power in Knowledge

A new volume just out (cross-posted from SWIP-L):

FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: POWER IN KNOWLEDGE, edited by Heidi Grasswick and published by Springer (as part of the Feminist Philosophy series edited by Elizabeth Potter).

The table of contents can be found here:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4020-6835-5#section=895294&page=1

Though this book is expensive (as are all Springer books), consider Springer's "MyCopy" option. If your library subscribes to one or more of Springer's e-book collections, you will be eligible to purchase a "MyCopy" version of this volume, either hard copy or electronic, for only $25. This means that if you are fortunate enough to be at an institution with a library that has the requisite subscriptions, you and your students could purchase the book reasonably, making class use a possibility.

Symposium on Ann Cudd, Analyzing Oppression

Please note that the SGRP has posted its Spring 2009 Symposium on Ann Cudd's book, Analyzing Oppression. Commentaries are by Sally Scholz (Villanova), Deborah Tollefsen (U. Memphis) and Helga Varden (UIUC).  Please have a look and post your comments.  Check back for Ann's reply.  Apologies to all for the delay in posting this.