Prospectus
Race, Racism and Philosophy is intended as a primary text for undergraduate general education
courses in philosophy of race and for undergraduate philosophy major courses. It is intended for
non-majors, but one chapter does explicitly reflect on the question of racism within the history of
western philosophy, so that the book would also be of specific interest to majors. Many of the
readings are philosophically involved and will be a challenge to non-majors and majors alike.
Most campuses now require, as part of their general education requirements, that students take
courses that address issues of race and racism. On my own campus (Humboldt State
University), students are required to take courses that satisfy our “Diversity and Common
Ground” requirement. This trend is occurring throughout the CSU system and the US in general.
This book is specifically aimed at such courses.
The text is designed primarily for students in the United States. Most of the readings deal with
racism in the US.
I have taught the material that will comprise this book several times, with great success.
Students found the articles intriguing and helpful in sparking discussion and debate.
The three books on the market that are most similar are:
Bernard Boxill, Race and Racism (Oxford Readings in Philosophy)
Susan Babbitt and Sue Campbell, Racism and Philosophy (Cornell University Press)
Jami L. Anderson, Race, Gender, and Sexuality
Paula Rothenberg, Race, Class, and Gender in the United States
In general, Race, Racism and Philosophy is broader in scope, more accessible to non-majors, and
more relevant than the other textbooks. For instance, it is the only text that provokes the students
to ask how they personally should respond to racism and to being racially categorized.
Boxill’s Race and Racism focuses primarily on the issue of whether race is a biological kind or a
social construct, and also on the nature of racism and racial discrimination. The readings are
long and highly technical. My experience with this book is that undergraduate students found it
inaccessible.
Racism and Philosophy focuses primarily on the relationship between philosophy and racism.
Thus, the scope is much broader than Racism and Philosophy, and is therefore more appropriate
for general education students.
Race, Gender, and Sexuality is similar also to Paula Rothenberg’s Race, Class, and Gender in the
United States. Both texts deal not only with race but also gender and class. Although they are
concerned with some of the same themes as Race, Racism and Philosophy, they are not books
about racism.
Race, Racism and Philosophy uniquely provides a framework from which students can
investigate metaphysical, moral, and political racial issues that are salient to them. Readings are
philosophically rigorous but not overly technical. Readings are structured to encourage and
inform questions about how racial identity and personal identity are or should be related, what
special moral obligations (if any) one has to members of one’s own race, the nature of
emancipation from oppression and whether violence in pursuit of emancipation is ever justified,
whether the foundational works on western philosophy are themselves sources of racist
assumptions. Part of the idea of the book is to get the students to think about how racism affects
them and invites them to think about how they should respond to it.
The text could be supplemented by a web-site that references current events that specifically
relate to the issues raised in the readings.
Instructors who teach Socratic-style, which is the norm in philosophy courses, will find the book
invaluable for provoking thoughtful discussion, since the issues address important questions in
the students’ own lives. The book is not designed for a straight lecture format. I provide helpful
‘questions for discussion’ at the end of each reading assignment.
Instructors who are ‘on the fence’ about whether whites are privileged or whether race is a social
construct will not appreciate this book, since it assumes that there is racism and that race is a
social construct. I do not think that these are particularly controversial assumptions.
I will have a first draft by August 1, 2012. I could have a complete manuscript by May 1, 2013.
Sample Chapters
Sample chapters are the heart of a complete proposal. Samples of pedagogical features and all illustrations should
be included. These samples are critical to the process we follow in arriving at a publishing decision.
VITA/Web Site
What are your credentials: teaching and research experience; degrees and affiliations; prior publications; special
qualifications; awards? Please be sure to provide your mailing address, e-mail address, office hours, and telephone
numbers. If you have a web site please include the URL.
Reviewer Suggestions
Your recommendations for reviewers, whether they are instructors that represent your target audience, authorities in
the field, or special topic experts, would be most welcome.
Table of Contents
Race as a Social Construct
Hacking, I.
“Making Up People”
Blum, L.
“Do Races Exist?”
What is Racism?
How is racism experienced?
Yancy, George.
Churchill, W.
Bonilla-Silva, E.
“Elevators, social spaces, and racism”
“Crimes Against Humanity”
“Racism Without Racists”
What is wrong with racism?
Appiah, K.
Garcia, J.L.A.
“Racisms”
“Philosophical Analysis and the Moral Concept of racism”
Race and Personal Identity
How should we think about whiteness?
Alcoff, L.M.
“What Should White People Do?”
Nopper, Tamara K.
“The White Anti-Racist is an Oxymoron…”
Applebaum, B. and Stoik, E. “On the Meaning and Necessity of a White, Anti-Racist Identity”
How should members of oppressed groups think about their racial identity?
West, C., and
Outlaw, L.
Stubblefield, A.
Alcoff, L.
“On Black-Brown Relations”
“On Race and Philosophy”
“Racial Identity and Non-Essentialism About Race”
“Mestizo Identity”
Do we have special moral obligations to people of our own race?
Shelby, T.
Kennedy, R.
“Foundations of Black Solidarity”
“My Race Problem – And Ours”
Responding to Oppression
In what does liberation consist?
King, MLK Jr.
Smith, K. and Zepp, I.
Carmichael, S.
Walter, E.
“Letter from Birmingham Jail”
“Martin Luther King’s Vision of the Beloved Community”
“Toward Black Liberation”
“Carmichael and Hamilton on Black Power”
What are the justified means of liberation?
Gordon, J.
Whitlock, G.
Shaeffer, H.B.
Fanon, F.
Fairchild, M.
“By Any Means Necessary…”
“Re-Examining Dr. King and Malcolm X on
Violence”
“Self-Respect and Protest”
selection from The Wretched of the Earth
“Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth”
Racism and Education
Racism and Philosophy
Mills, C.
Rosenthal, M.
“Non-Cartesian Sums: Philosophy and The African-American
Experience”
“’The black, scabby Brazilian’: Some thoughts on race and early
modern philosophy”