Distinguished Visitors Talk by Eyo Ewara, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Chicago Loyola University

"Racism and Repetition:  Identity, Continuity, and 'Working Through the Past'"

Thursday, February 15, 2024

4:30pm (tea 4:15pm)

Gest 101

Philosophers have often been concerned with questions of identity: What makes something the same over time? At what point has something changed so much that it is now completely new? In this talk I put these philosophical concerns in conversation with contemporary debates around structural racism and history. While some thinkers have argued that American racism is best understood as continuous despite historical changes in its forms and functions, others have argued that it is best to think in terms of substantially different, though related, racisms. I draw on the work of Gilles Deleuze to argue that we can helpfully interpret these conflicts through the idea that racism repeats. Reading racism as repeating can help shift how we understand what racism is, how we see it working across time, and the stakes of trying to “work through” a racist past.

Hosted by Peace, Justice, and Human Rights and Distinguished Visitors.

Questions? Email jstauffe [at] haverford.edu.