Žižek on Race
Toward an Anti-Racist Future
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:20th Feb '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The first book to examine Slavoj Žižek’s philosophy of race by clarifying, critiquing and placing it in dialogue with broader debates within race studies. Includes a foreword by Slavoj Zizek responding to the book and clarifying his own position vis ad vis contemporary debates around race.
Slavoj Žižek’s prolific comments on anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, scapegoating, popular nationalism, the refugee crisis, Eurocentrism, the War on Terror, neocolonialism, global justice, and rioting comprise a dizzying array of thinking. But what can we pull out of his various writings and commentaries on race in the contemporary world? Is there anything approaching a Žižekian philosophy of race?
Zahi Zalloua argues here that there is and that the often polemical style of Žižek's pronouncements shouldn't undermine the importance and urgency of his work in this area. Zalloua not only examines Žižek's philosophy of race but addresses the misconceptions that have arisen and some of the perceived shortcomings in his work to date. Žižek on Race also puts Žižek in dialogue with critical race and anti-colonial studies, dwelling on the sparks struck up by this dialogue and the differences, gaps, and absences it points up. Engaging Žižek’s singular contribution to the analysis of race and racism, Žižek on Race both patiently interrogates and critically extends his direct comments on the topic, developing more fully the potential of his thought.
In a response to the book, Žižek boldly reaffirms his theoretical stance, clarifying further his often difficult-to-work-out positions on some of his more controversial pronouncements.
With a penetrating Žižekian reading of racism, Zalloua offers a compelling critique of anti-racism that no one interesting in this politics can choose to ignore. … The Žižekian Marxism he proposes could be a potential theoretical foundation for the proletarian positions of the 21st Century. * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *
Žižek on Race provides new revelations on every page about the ways that psychoanalytic theory, specifically that of Slavoj Žižek, contributes to the critique of racism. For those who believe that Žižek has nothing to say about racism, Zalloua’s book will prove an eye-opening experience. It completely changes how we can theorize the fight against racism. -- Todd McGowan, Professor of English, University of Vermont, USA
Against the fake neutralism of the Western liberal gaze and its obverse side of identity politics, Zahi Zalloua lends a powerfully articulate voice to Žižek’s uncompromising call for a new “universality of strangers”. Drawing clear-sighted connections between Black Lives Matter, Palestinian resistance, Afro-pessimism and class struggle this timely intervention develops Žižekian themes and ideas in politically bold and creative ways, directly challenging today’s Left and Right orthodoxies on race and racism. -- Glyn Daly, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Northampton, UK, and author of Speculation: Politics, Ideology, Event
In Žižek on Race Zahi Zalloua achieves several remarkable feats. To point out just two of them: First, he provides an extremely helpful and timely account of Žižek’s conceptual and political arguments on racism, bringing out their systematic nature and unique and particularly valuable core. Second, and related to Zalloua’s own reading of both contemporary social antagonisms and Žižek’s theory, he successfully avoids and transposes the alternative between particular identity and universalism, which has been mortifying the emancipatory struggles for far too long. The book is an absolute must for anyone who wants to think and confront the problem of racism in both its simplicity and complexity. -- Alenka Zupancic, Professor of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis at The European Graduate School, Switzerland
ISBN: 9781350094208
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 334g
256 pages