The Illusion of Racial Identity Essays - 3986 Words

In common sense thought, race is simply a fact: humans are not all alike, there are whites, blacks and yellows, maybe reds and browns too, and these different kinds are races, and thats just a feature of the way the world is. However, recent work on the concept of race shows that race and race-talk can be understood by analogy to what Foucault suggests about psychiatry and mental illness coming into being together: (1) it is now beginning to appear than race and racism came into existence together as well. It is racism that has made talk of race something that we can take seriously. A statement attributing intelligence or laziness to a person on the basis of her/ his skin color, can only be judged true if there are resources in†¦show more content†¦The distinction Heidegger proposed in Being and Time (4) between several senses of being became the starting point of existential phenomenology, and the subsequent work of Sartre and deBeauvoir, on which I will draw in a moment, d erives important ideas from it. Specifically, I want to distinguish between three meanings of being with respect to the meaning of race, deriving from the discourse of existential phenomenology. With this distinction, I believe it is possible to gain some insight into the problem of race and the question of truth. Vorhandenheit and Existenz are Heideggers words for a distinction between two senses of being; Vorhandenheit has come to be known in English as presence-at-hand, but substantiality is another way to sum up its meaning. This refers to the kind of being that we attribute to, for instance, natural phenomena. When we ask what is it? with regard to some natural phenomenon, we are expecting, and will be satisfied with, an account of what the thing is composed of; this answer speaks of the object not primarily in terms of its usefulness, its value, its relation to other things, but primarily in terms of itself independently. In contrast, to name the kind of being that humans have, Heidegger uses the word existence, and by it he means especially to call attention to the fact of care:Show MoreRelatedCritical Analysis: Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man Essay1651 Words   |  7 PagesInvisible Man, struggle in an attempt to uncover his identity buried beneath African American oppression and an aggr egation of deception. Ellison shows us how lies and deceit may serve as a grave but invaluable obstacle to one’s journey to find their identity. Through the use of imagery, symbols, and motifs of blindness along with invisibility, Ellison portrays the undeniable obstacle that deception plays in one’s ability to establish their identity along with the necessity of it. Within the openingRead MoreEssay on Exploring Race and Challenging Privilege1610 Words   |  7 PagesExploring Race and Challenging Privilege I thought I understood racism well enough. Since early childhood I’ve learned from parents and teachers that racism is a sense of racial superiority, a way of making judgments about people based on their skin color before you get to know them, and a cause of hate crimes and foul language. I think I’m not racist, and as a white woman I’m not likely to be the victim of racism, so I usually think racism has nothing to do with my life. But I’m uncomfortableRead MoreMulticulturalism Is America s Unresolved Race Problem911 Words   |  4 Pagesmulticulturalism of the 80s and 90s) as something quite similar to a â€Å"racial project† a la Omi and Winant. Seen as an integral step in guiding racial formation, Michael Omi and Howard Winant defines a racial project as following (Omi and Winant 1994,56): â€Å"A racial project is simultaneously an interpretation, representation, or explanation of racial dynamics, and an effort to reorganize and redistribute resources along particular racial lines. Racial projects connect what race means in a particular discursiveRead MoreMulticulturalism Of The United States As An ( Ethno ) Racial Project939 Words   |  4 PagesKim 2004: 996). Thus, it might be more appropriate to speak of multiculturalism in the United States as an (ethno)racial project. While the direct origin of multicultural rhetoric was America’s race problem, it cannot be fully said that multicultural theory directly answered questions of American’s race problem. In fact, as much as official multiculturalism attempted to make sense of the increasing â€Å"diverse† makeup of its nation, it also hid many of the issues that it was attempting to resolveRead MoreGender Inequality And Racial Inequality Essay924 Words   |  4 PagesFor centuries and even today, gender inequality and racial prejudice continue to exist. Throughout time these concepts have overlapped and intertwined, each other creating complex interactions and a negative influence upon society. In the 1980s, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw through her article, named Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, introduced the term â€Å"Intersectionality.† Intersectionality, is the theory of how different types of discrimination sRead MoreWhat Is The Negro s Racial Identity?940 Words   |  4 PagesNegro’s Racial Identity? Racial identity growth has speedily increased and reshaped during the Harlem Renaissance as some blacks writers were coming to terms with the fact that there some differences among the black community. Two writers created their own personal translation concerning the Negro in the course of these years. In Alain Locke’s essay, The New Negro, he presents the variation of the â€Å"new† and â€Å"old† Negro. On the other hand Langston Hughes essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial MountainRead MoreI Agree With Aarvik s Comment1642 Words   |  7 Pagesabout those who stand around and watch rather than taking the initiative to aid another person? 2. Everyone has a different story to tell. The relationship between our experiences and our identities is that everything we have willingly (and unwillingly) experienced has shaped us into who we are. Our identities are the results of choices made in the past. Some examples in works we have read in the past are Jean Valjean, Javert, and almost all of the characters in Les Miserables. Spending the majorityRead MoreWoman Is The Nigger Of The Wolrd: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison934 Words   |  4 PagesAfrican-Americans feel inferior to white people, as a result of white people trying to distance themselves as far as possible from African-Americans. White people want to have clear boundaries between me and not-me, the Other, in order to retain their identity (Kolehmainen). In The Bluest Eye, African-Americans function as the Other for white people, thereby representing everything that they do not want to be. However, without the Other, there is no self. So people that consider thems elves to be betterRead MoreHenry Ossawa Tanner : An African American Artist857 Words   |  4 Pages Final Research Paper Henry Ossawa Tanner is an African-American artist. His works often subvert racial stereotypes and display his experiences as an African-American. The Annunciation (1898) depicts a traditional biblical scene in a modern manner; the painting portrays the well-known scene of Gabriel appearing before Mary to deliver news that she is to be the mother of Christ, however instead of merely accepting this fate she seems to be reluctant. Tanner takes a common biblical subject matter andRead MoreGender Inequality And Racial Prejudice1130 Words   |  5 PagesGender inequality and racial prejudice are alive and well in the United States and around the world despite the strides that have been made here over the past fifty years. Over time fixed notions about gender differences have been interwoven into the fabric of society, each leading to complex interactions among people. Traditionally, most of these rigid views have supported the dominance of men and the subservience of women in most social structures. In her article entitled: Mapping the Margins: