Papers by Amir Jaima
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Africana scholars often address their texts to a reader who is implicitly white. This tendency, w... more Africana scholars often address their texts to a reader who is implicitly white. This tendency, which this article characterizes as the “discursive orientation toward whiteness,” has the pernicious effect of limiting the range and rigor of scholars’ research questions and proposal. This analysis examines the other discursive “face,” following J. Saunders Redding’s observation from almost eighty years ago, which remains unnervingly insightful: “Negro [sic] writers have been obliged to have two faces . . . to satisfy two different (and opposed when not entirely opposite) audiences, the [B]lack and the white.” Scholars have described this second face in the text in a number of ways—variously as a temperament, a rhythm, or an “aesthetic.” Through an analysis of a few exemplary texts, the current study will describe a few of the most salient characteristics, ultimately in the service of equipping the “Black” scholar with a few effective, liberatory rhetorical strategies.
The Acorn, 2022
Heroism presumes “humanity.” Black candidates for heroism in the United States, however, must oft... more Heroism presumes “humanity.” Black candidates for heroism in the United States, however, must often overcompensate for the presumed sub-humanity imposed upon them by the American popular imaginary. By way of an illustration, consider the instructive case of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who, arguably, attains the status of (Black) American Hero in spite of his Blackness. Through a unique account of the life of Dr. King, I will argue that King attains the requisite overcompensation necessary for (Black) American heroism by becoming what João Costa Vargas and Joy James call a Baldwinian Cyborg, a “super human with unnatural capacities to suffer and love.” I will present, here, a literary narrative that weaves speculative fiction into the interstices of the historical record in order to contend that the Black Cyborg is necessary in a world where white Americans are “human” but Black citizens remain aspirations.
Journal of Black Studies
Productive dialogue with white people for anti-racist purposes is precluded by the political limi... more Productive dialogue with white people for anti-racist purposes is precluded by the political limits prescribed by the “principle of interest convergence,” occluded by the epistemological conditions of “white ignorance,” and disincentivized by the psychological burdens of “racial battle fatigue” borne by You and me, the Black would-be interlocutors. Nevertheless, much popular effort is spent—dare I say wasted—in attempts to talk white people out of their racism; or as I will define them in this paper, following James Baldwin, “those-who-think-of-themselves-as-white.” Consequently, I propose that we stop “talking” to those-who-think-of-themselves-as-white about racism, or at least adopt an attitude of extreme wariness.
Journal of Medical Humanities, 2020
A culturally cultivated ignorance with regard to the care and presentation of tightly-curled hair... more A culturally cultivated ignorance with regard to the care and presentation of tightly-curled hair pervades American society. This ignorance masquerades as a discourse of manageability, which supports institutional prohibitions of historically Black American hairstyles. In other words, rather than acknowledging our knowledge deficits, we attribute the medical and aesthetic consequences of our ignorance to the hair itself. The insidious implication is that the display of tightly curled hair is not a matter of taste but indicative of a lack of self-care. I conclude that this trend is racially prejudicial and that laws and education are possible mechanisms of redress. Keywords Black hair. Ignorance. Racism. Education "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."-Audre Lorde, "A Burst of Light" (Lorde 1988) Historically, the academic study and analysis of the hair textures and hairstyles common among Black Americans-namely Black hair and Black hairstyles-has been framed as a political inquiry. While hair texture varies among Black Americans, Black hair generally refers to hair that is tightly curled or "kinky," in contradistinction to "white," straight hair. Black hairstyles are those that showcase the unique affordances of tightly curled hair; such styles include afros, cornrows, twists, and locs. Thus, scholars pose some version of the question: what do Black hairstyle choices suggest about the Black political consciousness (Mercer 1987)? For instance, if, as a Black American, I straighten my tightly curled hair, does that mean that I have internalized white, European standards of beauty (Rooks 2000; Banks 2000)? Or, do my (dread)locs justifiably inspire dread or betray me as a dissident (A. Byrd and Tharps 2002, 127; Lorde 2011)? Or, does my shaved head convey an
On the Discursive Orientation toward Whiteness, 2019
There is a discursive tendency when examining questions of race
and racism to address a reader wh... more There is a discursive tendency when examining questions of race
and racism to address a reader who is implicitly white. This
discursive orientation limits the range and rigour of our research
questions and proposals. In addressing a white reader who is
potentially hostile, or suffers from ‘white ignorance’, we find
ourselves beginning our analyses, not from a historiographic
survey of the question, but from a pre-emptive justification that
we should continue to pose it at all. Drawing on literary theory
and Africana philosophy, I conclude that in order to redress the
racist, epistemological strictures of a discursive orientation toward
whiteness, we need to explicitly reorient our discursive voice
toward a non-white reader.
Between 1957 and 1961, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote a lengthy work of historical fiction, a trilogy co... more Between 1957 and 1961, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote a lengthy work of historical fiction, a trilogy collectively titled The Black Flame (1957, 1959, 1961). Through the lenses of four American families, the narrative offers an illuminating glimpse into the American, political drama of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on the degree to which “the negro problem” featured in important decisions and events. While this paper will examine a few of the specific arguments that emerge from The Black Flame, I am primarily concerned here with a meta-question, namely Du Bois’ curious methodological choice in this late-life project. I argue that as historical fiction, The Black Flame operates on two methodological registers with historical, sociological, and philosophical import. First, the text serves as “sociological interpretation.” In this capacity, the sociologist-qua-creative-artist uses “pure imagination”(Du Bois 1957, 315) in the service of articulating and understanding the “distinct social mind”(Du Bois 1898, 20) of Black people. Second, The Black Flame functions as DuBoisian “propaganda”(Du Bois 1996c/1926), entailing arguments and insights that are not reducible to the facts; in short, it functions as Philosophy.
The whiteness of American philosophy must be appreciated as an epistemological and ontological ac... more The whiteness of American philosophy must be appreciated as an epistemological and ontological achievement. Thus, I contend that the only way forward for American philosophy entails an Africana philosophical critique, which consists of two methodological ventures—one deconstructive and the other radical. I will briefly present six voices that exemplify this Africana philosophical critique. The deconstructive voices include (1) Sylvia Wynter’s genealogy of “MAN,” (2) Leonard Harris’s insurrectionist challenge to Pragmatism, and (3) Charles Mills’s and Chandra Mohanty’s rejection of Ideal Theory. The radical voices include (1) Lewis Gordon’s Africana-existential-phenomenology as a decolonial “antidote” to Eurocentrism, (2) Tommy Curry’s culturalogical solution to the “derelictical” and “methodological” crises of African American philosophy, and (3) Africana literature as “new” philosophy.
Book Reviews by Amir Jaima
Houston Review of Books, 2020
It is with great pleasure that I have the opportunity to review The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, ... more It is with great pleasure that I have the opportunity to review The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood (2017) by Tommy J. Curry, Distinguished Chair in the Philosophy department at Edinburgh University. In this rigorously-argued, meticulouslyresearched treatise, The Man-Not makes two important interventions that warrant immediate engagement by anyone who hopes to seriously study gender and race in the United States. First, it levies one of the most incisive criticism of contemporary gender theory; in brief, contrary to the predictions of intersectionality, Curry argues that "Black men and boys are, in fact, disadvantaged because of their maleness" (2017, 8). This basic, empirically-substantiated insight compels us to rethink our ideas of "patriarchy" and "gender." The second task is constructive. The Man-Not creates "a theory and an operational paradigm by which we can understand the intellectual, historical, and sexual diversity of Black men" (9). Furthermore, as the first text in academic philosophy that "deals specifically with the history and theorization of Black males," The Man-Not inaugurates a new field of study, namely "Black male studies" (8). The Man-Not has already been reviewed more than twenty times since its publication, almost all of which have been positive. And in 2018 it was the recipient of the prestigious American Book Award. Where several scholars across a number of disciplines have failed to find significant fault with this impactful text, I would be hard pressed to surpass them. I will begin with a brief but thorough summary of the text, followed by a short discussion of its critical reception. The book is divided into five chapters, plus a conclusion and an epilogue. In chapter 1, "On Mimesis and Men," Curry draws upon nineteenth century ethnography and historiography in order to dispel the contemporary claim that Black men ever were or aspired to be "patriarchal." First of all, Black men in the nineteenth century were not considered "men"much less "patriarchs"-because Black people were thought to be savages; this was evidenced not only culturally, but somehow physiologically. For instance, ethnologists and physicians argued that the relatively low pilosity of many Black men presumably disqualified them from "social manhood rights and citizenship" (52). And one physician argued that until "education will reduce the large size of the Negro's penis," he will be "ruled by that appendage, unaffected by religion, morality, or reason" (53). The prevailing political and scientific consensus was that, given the innate primitiveness of Black people, the American institution of slavery served an important civilizing purpose. Emancipation, however, removed the social and psychological constraints on the violent inclinations of Black people in general, but also on the innate "sexual insatiability" of Black men in particular (53). This alleged "scientific fact" concerning Black men
Redlining Culture is the second book written by Richard Jean So-scholar, literary critic, and pro... more Redlining Culture is the second book written by Richard Jean So-scholar, literary critic, and professor of English and cultural analytics at McGill University. This well-written text, carefully-researched text makes a valuable and relatively novel contribution to the study of race and racism in the United States. In brief, So argues that during the "postwar" period-roughly 1950 to 2000, bookended on the early end by the rapid growth and conglomeration of booksellers after World War II, and on the late end by the emergence of the ubiquitous digitization of publications-there persists in the fiction publication industry a disturbingly high rate of racial inequality, contrary to the public and scholarly perception that a growing interest in multiculturalism contributed to the moderate redress of historical patterns. The general claim that American institutions are characterized by racial inequality, if not outright racial prejudice, is a charge that writers and thinkers have levelled for at least two hundred years (recall David Walker's "Appeal" in 1929). Redlining Culture, however, joins a relatively select group of texts in the humanities that employ scientific tools and methods in order to rigorously demonstrate the existence and persistence of racial inequality; additionally, and perhaps more importantly, Redlining Culture aspires to quantify the disparities and concretely describe its contours. To this end, So's analyses employ in conjunction "two forms of cognition-human and machinic" (23). On the one hand, he uses powerful statistical and computational methods in order to unveil an intransigent "critical blindness" (26) in our understanding of literary history. On the other hand, his "human" attention directs us toward statistical outliers; these data points often correspond to the authors who are Black and The book is divided into four chapters, each of which examines measurable patterns that occur at a "major phase of the American literary field" (23): publishing, book reviews, awards and bestseller lists, and scholarship. In chapter one, "Production: on White Publishing," So begins with a survey the digital corpus of 1400 novels published by Random House. So focusses on Random House because of the perception that, of the few large publishers, "we'd anticipate Random House…to present the least amount of racial inequality" (29); they are known for publishing several notable Black authors, and Toni Morrison was an influential editor there for 15 years. Nevertheless, So finds, remarkably, that even at Random House, 97% of the authors published were white; a paltry two percent were Black, and 1% were other people of color (see Table 0.1, p.4). Beyond this statistic, So examined the same data set using "wording embeddings"-a form of computational pattern recognition that identifies keywords and their common associations-in order to determine the presences of "patterns of literary whiteness" (45). Specifically, So tracked the kinds of words associated with white and Black characters.
Syllabi by Amir Jaima
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Papers by Amir Jaima
and racism to address a reader who is implicitly white. This
discursive orientation limits the range and rigour of our research
questions and proposals. In addressing a white reader who is
potentially hostile, or suffers from ‘white ignorance’, we find
ourselves beginning our analyses, not from a historiographic
survey of the question, but from a pre-emptive justification that
we should continue to pose it at all. Drawing on literary theory
and Africana philosophy, I conclude that in order to redress the
racist, epistemological strictures of a discursive orientation toward
whiteness, we need to explicitly reorient our discursive voice
toward a non-white reader.
Book Reviews by Amir Jaima
Syllabi by Amir Jaima
and racism to address a reader who is implicitly white. This
discursive orientation limits the range and rigour of our research
questions and proposals. In addressing a white reader who is
potentially hostile, or suffers from ‘white ignorance’, we find
ourselves beginning our analyses, not from a historiographic
survey of the question, but from a pre-emptive justification that
we should continue to pose it at all. Drawing on literary theory
and Africana philosophy, I conclude that in order to redress the
racist, epistemological strictures of a discursive orientation toward
whiteness, we need to explicitly reorient our discursive voice
toward a non-white reader.