Race and the Other Exploring the philosophy of identity

Journal: What is race?  Write a journal entry considering your reading as well as your understanding of Richard Wright’s concept of race and your own notions.  Be prepared to share.  We will write for ten minutes

What is race?  Race is defined by dictionary.com as:  1. a group of persons related by common descent or heredity. descent  2. a population so related.  3. b. an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, especially formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups.

Race, Identity, and the Other  Hegel introduced the concept of the “Other” in relation to the concept of “self- conciousness” or one’s self perception  The concept suggests people create roles or identities for themselves only in relation to their perception of other people

The Other and One’s Self  Derrida notes that the understanding of the Other may necessarily be incomplete as the person’s conception of the Other may be developing prior to their even meeting the Other  Consider that preconceived notions of something foreign pre-taint it before it is met and even the meeting may be curtailed or stunted

The Other continued  Michel Foucault notes that the process of Othering has everything to do with power and subordination  The Other is necessarily different and therefore by implication bad, dangerous, or inferior

Wright, Tatum, and the Other  Consider how the philosophy of the Other is explored by Richard Wright in Black Boy  How has the concept of race and the Other developed in Tatum’s analysis? How is it the same?  Is the Other limited by race? How else might the Other be applied anthropologically?  Can we form individual identities without regard to the Other?