Professor Falguni Sheth (Philosophy, Hampshire College) will present the key ideas of her book, Toward a Political Philosophy of Race (SUNY Press, 2009) that examines how, in fact, liberal society enables racism and other forms of discrimination and racialized hatred such as islamophobia in the US today. The discussion, led by Professor Alyson Cole (Political Science & Women’s Studies, Queens College & The Graduate Center, CUNY), will focus and expand on Chapter 5: Producing Race: Naturalizing the Exception Through the Rule of Law. Professor Kyoo Lee (Philosophy, John Jay College, CUNY) will moderate the conversation.
About the book: “Toward a Political Philosophy of Race draws 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 shows 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.”
