Toward a Political Philosophy of Race

SUNY Series: Philosophy and Race

by Falguni A. Sheth

Examines how liberal society enables racism and other forms of discrimination.Timely, controversial, and incisive, Toward a Political Philosophy of Race looks uncompromisingly at how a liberal society enables racism and other forms of discrimination. Drawing on the examples of the internment of U.S. citizens and residents of Japanese descent, of Muslim men and women in the contemporary United States, and of Asian Indians at the turn of the twentieth century, Falguni A. Sheth argues that racial discrimination and divisions are not accidents in the history of liberal societies. Race, she contends, is a process embedded in a range of legal technologies that produce racialized populations who are divided against other groups. Moving past discussions of racial and social justice as abstract concepts, she reveals the playing out of race, racialization of groups, and legal frameworks within concrete historical frameworks.Falguni A. Sheth is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Theory at Hampshire College and the coeditor (with David Colander and Robert E. Prasch) of Race, Liberalism, and Economics.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Race, Politics, Feminism, Social Justice, History

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Quin Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, clear, straightforward account of how processes of racialization are not aberrant, but are in fact endemic to liberal-democratic societies. Sheth's account centers the role of sovereign power in creating racial division among subject populations in order to maintain its own authority. A key intervention into political philosophy, Sheth identifies and seeks to redress several gaps in the literature. One particularly revelatory point is her clarification that liberal theories of power which represent sovereignty as directly representing the will of its subjects are ideal and not emperical-- that is they are ideological.

This work is an excellent, critical introduction into political philosophy and critical race theory more generally, and is recommended for anyone interested in race, politics, and/or social justice. Sheth offers this work as a first step towards resisting processes of racialization, and I think that project should be taken up readily.

NB: though Sheth deals with racial examples, she notes that her theoretical framework can also apply to "non-racial" subject populations (eg women, LGBTQ, persons with disabilities) given the prerequisite historical/social/political conditions

[Oktaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Race is a metaphysical mode of dividing populations. But those division are concealed in everyday life through other categories, which are the residue of earlier process of racialization. It works like this: driven by sovereign power, channeled through laws and juridical institutions, concealed through certain mythologies, and operating through the dividing of populations against each other.

This book is just mind-blowing. Sheth puts rich literature on race in philosophy, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, legal theories, a bit of feminist studies inside this book. Finally, after all this time, I got one new different point of view for race. Kudos to Sheth and this book!

[Yumeko (blushes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a fucking religious experience.
I heard about this book from an old video of Philosophy Tube, and this was certainly as fun as they made it sound. What really made me pick it up was Black Friday though, I didn't expect Nana Kwame's work to poke at me as much as it did.
I expected myself to summarise this when I was halfway through, but you realize that the author does it themselves multiple times throughout (so might as well read the conclusions at end of chapter and book), which is something I appreciated, since you never really lose the thread of their arguments. This isn't mentioning how clearly it's written already.
On top of that, it's introduced me to a number of other works I hope to look into.

[Caleb Young]

So good.

Best in-depth look at the impacts and creation of systemic racism that I have ever read. This is a very well written, and we'll thought out look at a philosophy of race, and is worth the read for anyone who wants to delve into the topic. This book takes a good bit of knowledge in philosophy in order to understand it, but is still worth the read it you are not from a philosophical background.