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Blackness and ModernityThe Colour of Humanity and the Quest for Freedom |
eBook Available
An exploration of what it means to be black and the meaning of blackness and multiculturalism.
Cecil Foster presents a rigorous interdisciplinary analysis of blackness by challenging existing notions of blackness and arguing for the viability of a multicultural world.
In Blackness and Modernity Foster traces the main philosophical, anthropological, sociological, and mythological arguments that support views of modernity as a failed quest for whiteness. He outlines how these views were implemented as part of a "world history" and shows how Canada became the first country to officially reject this approach by adopting multiculturalism.
Blackness and Modernity presents four categories for understanding blackness and whiteness: the somatic, cultural, status differential, and the idealistic. The somatic - the colour of skin - is merely one category, and perhaps the least meaningful for, while it may be the most important for some people, Foster argues that multiculturalism, which he views as ontological blackness, is an attempt to make rational idealism the only category that matters.
In Blackness and Modernity Foster traces the main philosophical, anthropological, sociological, and mythological arguments that support views of modernity as a failed quest for whiteness. He outlines how these views were implemented as part of a "world history" and shows how Canada became the first country to officially reject this approach by adopting multiculturalism.
Blackness and Modernity presents four categories for understanding blackness and whiteness: the somatic, cultural, status differential, and the idealistic. The somatic - the colour of skin - is merely one category, and perhaps the least meaningful for, while it may be the most important for some people, Foster argues that multiculturalism, which he views as ontological blackness, is an attempt to make rational idealism the only category that matters.
Details
656 Pages, 6 x 9
ISBN 9780773532472
May 2007
Formats: Paperback, eBook
"Foster brings historical depth to his work and shows that the social and political recognition of blackness and multiculturalism is itself a contingent moment in history." George Dei, sociology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
"Blackness and Modernity is a magnum opus, wide ranging, almost scandalously ambitious, the work of a person with a generous heart and a brilliant mind, willing to toil in Clio's Vineyard for many years. This book should reinvigorate the political quest for a genuine multiculturalism." Canadian Journal of Sociology
"Blackness and Modernity is a magnum opus, wide ranging, almost scandalously ambitious, the work of a person with a generous heart and a brilliant mind, willing to toil in Clio's Vineyard for many years. This book should reinvigorate the political quest for a genuine multiculturalism." Canadian Journal of Sociology
Cecil Foster is an associate professor, sociology and anthropology, University of Guelph, and the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction, including Where Race Does Not Matter: The New Spirit of Modernity.
Blackness and Modernity
Cecil Foster
Table of Contents
xi
PART ONE
Section One Blackness and the Quest for Freedom
1 Introduction 5
2 Blackness: Method, Differences, Perspective 27
3 Meaning, Understanding, and Knowing 38
4 Common Sense Blackness: Existentialism, Epistemology, Ontology 69
Section Two Theoretical Frameworks
5 Blackness and Goodness: Frameworks of Study 87
6 Ideology That Privileges the Somatic 114
7 Phenomenology, History, and Paradigms 139
8 Blackness and Speculative Philosophy 164
Section Three Blackness - Quest for Whiteness in Western Thought
9 Greek Mythologies and Philosophies 203
10 The Cunning of Blackness 214
11 Blackness: Status, Citizenship, Death, and Rebirth 248
12 Slavery and Death 277
13 Ethno-Racial Bondage 305
PART TWO
Section Four Canadian Blackness and Identity
14 Multiculturalism and Blackness 329
15 Promises of Multiculturalism 360
16 Blackness: Essences, Mythologies, and Positioning 393
17 Neo-Mythic Multiculturalism 414
18 Blackness: Social and Political in Canada 430
19 New Ideals of Canadian Blackness 447
20 Black Canada - Reconciliation? 478
Notes 505
Index 597
Cecil Foster
Table of Contents
xi
PART ONE
Section One Blackness and the Quest for Freedom
1 Introduction 5
2 Blackness: Method, Differences, Perspective 27
3 Meaning, Understanding, and Knowing 38
4 Common Sense Blackness: Existentialism, Epistemology, Ontology 69
Section Two Theoretical Frameworks
5 Blackness and Goodness: Frameworks of Study 87
6 Ideology That Privileges the Somatic 114
7 Phenomenology, History, and Paradigms 139
8 Blackness and Speculative Philosophy 164
Section Three Blackness - Quest for Whiteness in Western Thought
9 Greek Mythologies and Philosophies 203
10 The Cunning of Blackness 214
11 Blackness: Status, Citizenship, Death, and Rebirth 248
12 Slavery and Death 277
13 Ethno-Racial Bondage 305
PART TWO
Section Four Canadian Blackness and Identity
14 Multiculturalism and Blackness 329
15 Promises of Multiculturalism 360
16 Blackness: Essences, Mythologies, and Positioning 393
17 Neo-Mythic Multiculturalism 414
18 Blackness: Social and Political in Canada 430
19 New Ideals of Canadian Blackness 447
20 Black Canada - Reconciliation? 478
Notes 505
Index 597
Winner
John Porter Tradition of Excellence Book Prize
Canadian Sociological Association (2008)
John Porter Tradition of Excellence Book Prize
Canadian Sociological Association (2008)
