Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
Philosophy
Advisor
Linda Alcoff
Committee Members
Miranda Fricker
Serene Khader
Frank Kirkland
Subject Categories
Philosophy
Keywords
racial democracy, philosophy of race, social epistemology, white ignorance
Abstract
The critical philosophy of race has shown recent growth, but it tends to focus too much on the United States. This leaves many race-related concepts and phenomena from other parts of the world underexplored. I help to fill this gap by exploring the idea of "racial democracy" in Brazil, which is a form of racial ignorance that is prevalent in that country. Specifically, I am interested in the epistemic aspects of this mechanism of creating and propagating racial ignorance.
To achieve this goal, I begin by introducing Charles Mills' concept of white ignorance and other influential works in social epistemology. Then, I provide the necessary sociological and historical background to understand the concept of "racial democracy" in Brazilian racial thinking. From there, I explore how techniques typically used in the philosophy of race can be useful in studying the Brazilian context.
In Chapter 5, I introduce my approach to "racial democracy" and highlight its epistemic components. I connect it to the epistemology of ignorance and social epistemology to provide a deeper understanding of this form of racial ignorance. Additionally, I compare "racial democracy" to color blindness, which is a form of racial ignorance that is prevalent in the United States, and show how these two forms of ignorance differ. Finally, I demonstrate that my theorization contributes to a better understanding of seminal works by Abdias Nascimento and Sueli Carneiro, two black Brazilian intellectuals whose work I analyze in the last chapter.
Recommended Citation
de Souza Carmo Reis, Teófilo, "Theorizing Racial Democracy" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5565
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