Felice Blake’s “Why Black Lives Matter in the Humanities” from Seeing Race Again: Countering Colorblindness across the Disciplines by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Luke Charles Harris, Daniel Martinez HoSang, and George Lipsitz
“Because race is a structuring effect for all texts, what I describe as race-conscious reading practices challenge managerial forms of multiculturalism and colorblind epistemologies.” (310)
- What do you think Blake means by “managerial forms of multiculturalism?” Can you think of any examples of what this might be in practice?
Consider the idea of “managerial forms of multiculturalism” alongside this next passage:
“Literary studies, or what we understand as the work of the English departments, have at different times refused, redefined, or renegotiated the interventions that social movements produced in higher education. Expressed commitments to diversity and multiculturalism on campus and in the curriculum did not necessarily bring about the transformation of what counts as evidence in terms of scholarly literary engagement and criticism in teaching, research methodologies, and publications. For example, it is uncommon to find as required coursework for the English major survey courses on the literature of aggrieved populations.” (311)
- Whether you are concentrating in English or not, what does your concentration require? Does your list of concentration requirements support or refute Blake’s claim above?
“…colorblind multiculturalism comprises the simultaneous institutional, representational incorporation of texts by people of color and the political neutralization of their theoretical, methodological, and activist interventions.” (316)
- What do you think Blake means by “political neutralization” and can you think of any examples that might support or refute this claim?
