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13?Tienes Culo? How to Look at Vida GuerraIn Peg Brand Weiser (ed.), Beauty Unlimited, Indiana University Press. pp. 218-242. 2013.Vida Guerra is a Cuban model from northern New Jersey. She made her name in hiphop videos and in "gentlemen's magazines" but quickly became in intermediate supermodel, with her own calendars, making-of-the-calendar DVDs, official website, fan websites, television show, and controversy over a "leaked" nude photo. . . . Vida's popularity has caused one writer to suggest "You may now move over J-Lo, and make way for Vida;" in short, tiene culo, to borrow the Spanish slang that adorns one of her vir…Read more
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13Malcolm's Conk and Danto's Colors; or, Four Logical Petitions Concerning race, Beauty, and AestheticsIn Peg Zeglin Brand (ed.), Beauty Matters, Indiana University Press. pp. 57-64. 2000.In this essay I want to consider how Penola's (character in Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye) circumstance es motivate her petition--"asking for beauty"--and two others, after which I will offer my own petition concerning the practice of aesthetics.
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282Black Reconstruction in AestheticsDebates in Aesthetics 15 (2): 9-47. 2020.This essay uses the concept of reconstruction to make an argument and an intervention in relation to the practice and study of black aesthetics. The argument will have to do with the parochialism of John Dewey, the institutional inertia of professional philosophy, the aesthetic dimensions of the US politics of reconstruction, the centrality of reconstructionist politics to the black aesthetic tradition, and the staging of a reconstructionist argument in the film, Black Panther (Coogler 2018). Th…Read more
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4Towards a Decolonial Analytic Philosophy: Institutional Corruption and Epistemic CultureIn Sally Matthews & Pedro Tabensky (eds.), Being At Home: Race, Institutional Culture, and Transformation at South African Higher Education Institutions, University of Kwazulu-natal Press. pp. 203-220. 2015.
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392. Moral PerfectionismIn Brandon M. Terry & Tommie Shelby (eds.), To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr, Harvard University Press. pp. 35-57. 2018.
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200Black aestheticsPhilosophy Compass 5 (1): 1-15. 2010.This article introduces the preoccupations and themes that define the study and practice of black aesthetics. It presents a provisional sketch of a field that has long been recognized in other humanities disciplines, but that is only now gaining wide notice in academic philosophy. This sketch emphasizes the aspects of the field that invite specifically philosophic scrutiny, while touching lightly on specific artworks, critical literatures and historical developments. Among the topics that receiv…Read more
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41Black is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black AestheticsWiley-Blackwell. 2015.Those who know anything about black history and culture probably know that aesthetics has long been a central concern for black thinkers and activists. The Harlem Renaissance, the Negritude movement, the Black Arts Movement, and the discipline of Black British cultural studies all attest to the intimate connection between black politics and questions of style, beauty, expression, and art. And the participants in these and other movements have made art and offered analyses that wrestle with clear…Read more
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30The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race (edited book)Routledge. 2017.For many decades, race and racism have been common areas of study in departments of sociology, history, political science, English, and anthropology. Much more recently, as the historical concept of race and racial categories have faced significant scientific and political challenges, philosophers have become more interested in these areas. This changing understanding of the ontology of race has invited inquiry from researchers in moral philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of scienc…Read more
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39The Last King of Scotland or the Last N----r on Earth? The Ethics of Race on FilmContemporary Aesthetics. 2009.
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16On the Very Idea of a Philosophical Culture: Or, The American Evasion of PoliticsTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 52 (3): 366. 2016.It is an honor to comment on Carlin Romano’s fine and ambitious book. It is also something of a challenge, precisely because of Romano’s ambition. He has set himself the task of rebranding both the United States and philosophy. He has undertaken to compose and sell an image of the United States as a distinctly philosophical enterprise, and a picture of philosophy as something more democratic and diverse than the mostly white, mostly male, elite-aspirant academic discipline that most people assoc…Read more
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12Does Hip Hop Belong to Me? The Philosophy of Race and CultureIn D. Darby & T. Shelby (eds.), Hip Hop and Philosophy, Open Court. pp. 79--91. 2005.
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80What's the Use of Calling Du Bois a Pragmatist?Metaphilosophy 35 (1-2): 99-114. 2004.Was W. E. B. Du Bois a pragmatist? Does it matter? This essay argues that reading Du Bois as a pragmatist highlights aspects of his work and life that might otherwise go unnoticed, while also highlighting aspects of pragmatism that often go unappreciated. In addition, this double revelation may help restore to us some important resources for dealing with current social problems.
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18Race problems, unknown publics, paralysis, and faithIn Shannon Sullivan Nancy Tuana (ed.), Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, . pp. 135--151. 2007.
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177Malcolm's conk and Danto's colors; or, four logical petitions concerning race, beauty, and aestheticsJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57 (1): 16-20. 1999.
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32The Philosophy of Race. by Albert Atkin. Acumen, 2012, pp. 200, £15.99. ISBN-10: 1844655156 (review)Philosophy 89 (1): 166-171. 2014.
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Reconstructing Aesthetics: John Dewey, Expression Theory, and Cultural CriticismDissertation, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick. 1997.Contemporary analytic aestheticians have little interest in the old paradigm of expression theory. They observe that expression theorists tend to locate the essence of art in the externalization of emotion, and they argue persuasively that this tendency is unfortunate. Then they consign expression theorists like Dewey; Collingwood, and Croce to the dustbin of history. This dismissive posture has become standard in aesthetics, for some good reasons. But at least in the case of Dewey, the reasons …Read more
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31Evading evasion, recovering recoveryJournal of Speculative Philosophy 25 (2): 174-183. 2011.In his contribution to Cheryl Misak's New Pragmatists volume, David Bakhurst considers the "prospect of a fruitful alliance between [ethical] particularism and pragmatism." 1 In an attempt to show that members of the two camps can "profit from critical engagement with each other's works" (124), he considers how pragmatists might help resolve three outstanding problems for ethical particularists. Unfortunately, his generosity outpaces his imagination, and he does not really find a great deal that…Read more
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21The Philosophical I: Personal Reflections on Life in Philosophy (edited book)Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2002.Philosophy is shaped by life and life is shaped by philosophy. This is reflected in The Philosophical I, a collection of 16 autobiographical essays by prominent philosophers
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460The Two-Dewey Thesis, Continued: Shusterman's Pragmatist AestheticsJournal of Speculative Philosophy 16 (1). 2002.
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19Making Niagara a Cataract: Cornel West, Greatness, and the Music of IdeasContemporary Pragmatism 4 (1): 91-115. 2007.There is an odd duality in Cornel West's work. He is a generous thinker and voracious interlocutor, willing to learn from anyone on a sincere quest for insight. But he is also he is an unapologetic admirer of greatness, as stingy with ascriptions of genius as he is lavish with praise for the select few who qualify. "Making Niagara a Cataract" reflects on this duality. I try to explain what motivates West's commitment to the importance of greatness, and how these motivations emerge from and shape…Read more
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32The Philosophy of Race: Critical Concepts in Philosophy (edited book)Routledge. 2011.v. 1. Philosophy and the history of race, race in the history of philosophy -- v.2. Racial being and knowing -- v. 3. Race-ing beauty, goodness, and right -- v. 4. Intersections and positions.
University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Aesthetics |
Philosophy of Gender, Race, and Sexuality |
African/Africana Philosophy |
Philosophy of Action |