Aesthetics, Anti-racism, and Democracy

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel will gather a diverse set of perspectives to explore the nexus of anti-racism, democracy, and political resistance with attention to aesthetic expressions. Katie Ebner-Landy takes up the question of whether literary works can help combat racism, engaging with the development and rise of “ethical criticism” as a liberal, democratic political aesthetic, and illustrating its shortcomings both as an interpretive framework and as a political stance. Nojang Khatami’s paper draws on the writings of 19th century Cuban revolutionary and poet José Martí to demonstrate how they go beyond liberalism by inaugurating an aesthetic critique of race and empire grounded in his experiences as an exile in the United States, and testifying to the value of literary narrative as a site of political resistance against domination. Mark Reinhardt examines the significance of visuality for politics through the example of American lynching photography and its mobilization by Black-led anti-lynching campaigns for dismantling white supremacy, thereby highlighting the centrality of aesthetics in struggles against racism. Finally, Damali Britton demonstrates the critical role of “reading” images as an interpretive exercise for “seeing” racial violence, engaging with Judith Butler’s distinction between the two to maintain the primacy of reading images as a way to contest white supremacy.

Collectively, this panel will delve into the complexities of employing visual and literary aesthetics against racism, the relationship of these modes of expression to democracy, and the insights that political theorists may gain by thinking through these connections.

Sub Unit

• Division 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• Can Literature Help Make Us Less Racist? - Katie Ebner-Landy, Harvard University Society of Fellows

• Critiques of Racism and Empire in José Martí’s Revolutionary Aesthetic - Nojang Khatami, Fordham University

• Seeing like a Theorist, or, Lynching’s Visual Politics - Mark Reinhardt, Williams College

• Understanding the Distinction between Seeing and Reading Racial Violence - Damali Britton, Brown University

Chair

• Jeanne Morefield University of Oxford

Discussant

• Jeanne Morefield University of Oxford