on cornel west

</head> <body> Subject Re Black Intellectuals Newsgroups soc.culture.african.american References <2fck7c$9v2@umd5.umd.edu><2fdd30$aj9@panix.com><CIpFC5.417@deshaw.com>Organization PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Distribution Rob Hahn (hahn@deshaw.com) wrote [(more) snip on much good stuff re West] <hr> : While I have to agree with Marvin Titus that Cornel West's most recent book : (as well as the one just before it -- Race Matters) is not all that : impressive, I'm not sure I understand his objection that West's major : theoretical paradigms are grounded in European-oriented philosophical : thought. : As background, I was a philosophy major in college, and Cornel West was one : of my biggest influences. Beginning with Prophesy! Deliverance!, West was : trying very hard to come to grips with many of the issues I was trying to : deal with, particularly in a European-oriented philosophical context. I : would absolute agree with Mike Bowen that West is most influenced by : American thinkers such as Dewey and DuBois, although I would also include : the influence of the African-American church as a major influence on West. : Now, I would like a clarification of what is meant by "European-oriented : philosophical thought". Is there any other kind of philosophical thought? : What I mean is, philosophy (for better or for worse) has been and still : remains largely a European-Male discipline. It is impossible to study : philosophy without being European-oriented -- just as it would be : impossible to study mathematics without being European-oriented, since : Newton, Godel, and almost every other mathematician has been European. For : that matter, almost all of the academic disciplines is (in this way) : European-oriented. I think there is an often used quote behind much of Afrocentric defensiveness that goes something like 'you can't build freedom with the master's tools' and this has justified some casting off of European (Eurocentric?) stuff. I have problems with that on two accounts, neither of them being a criticism against Afrocentric movement. The first is that it is merely silly, as if saying because the Black Panthers used diapers made of cotton which is an industry created by slavery and controlled by white folks, that their child care ideas were worthless. There is a point at which we have to say this reduction is pointless. Secondly, everything that originates in Europe is not necessarily Eurocentric. And of course the same goes for Africa. There aren't many black folks listening to banjo music these days, but the banjo is clearly an instrument of African creation. That being said, whatever West has done, and I do consider pragmatism American enough, even if it borrows from the European doesn't necessarily revert to the European. Is it fair to say about West that As for mathmeticians, it's more likely that the Confucians wouldn't even bother informing all us barbarians about their mathmeticians anyway, and secondly mathematics is only culturally important as the Age of Europe declines. Since the spoils of war (as in WW1, WW2 have been primarily material and these wars have been fought on material grounds, the management of materiel has become paramount, therefore all us who ain't in the ruling class are encouraged to become educated in things that serve to preserve that fundamental type of superiority for our superiors). But was not the Cold War a war of ideology in which the skills of 'intelligence' were considered the superior? The schism in the Catholic Church could be considered another such war as is the low level conflict which typifies the cultural battles for the moral high ground within the US as we speak. It is not necessarily mathematics which brings victory, and thus not necessarily the victor's version which is valuable in the long run. Certainly if you asked an imperial upper class briton what is the primary stuff of his nation's well being it wouldn't be math. That is to say, paraphrasing P.J. O'Rourke(!) that the English Empire came to be with an education that was more interested in Latin and Greek than mathematics and technology. It is only recent history which has skewed up the value of technical thought and consequently this recent history that influences many Afrocentrics into celebrating the technical achievements of Africans. So yes there is other philosophical thought, but how we come to know philosophy as is the case with mathematics is socially constructed. When is a wise man a philosopher? When he asks himself that question. But whether or not that is important depends again on the social context. K. Anthony Appiah writes extensively on the development in African countries of philosophy which is no more pure than that we selectively glean from the mainstream of European thought. There are of course a completely different set of circumstances in the various African nations, in their varying stages of independence which make such questions valuable. Appiah goes on to question the value of Pan-Africanism, much as we here have questioned the value of a monolithic perception of African-Americans. : Having said that, I think West was engaging in a wonderful transformation : of the European-oriented philosophical thought into something that was very : much African-American. Almost in the same way that Christianity was : adopted, transformed, and made uniquely African-American, West's project : seems to be to adopt, transform and make uniquely African-American the : whole tradition of philosophical-theological thought. That is an amazing : project, and one I can't say he's completely succeeded in. But, as Mike : Bowen points out, he is still young. I hope he's not sidetracked by all : this media attention and superstar status. He still needs to finish up a : lot of what he's begun. : If there is an opinion out there as to what might constitute a : non-European-oriented philosophical thought, I would be very interested in : hearing it. : >I am not fully scooped on what went down between he and bell hooks and I : >won't mention it any more till I find out. I wrote to Marshall Blonsky : >on his book - American Mythologies - and he mentioned that he sees : >West taking up the *sign* of the classic black sellout which simply means : >here is a black man who is now the hot intellectual. Yes West plays into : >that. If Blonsky is right, the cachet of white attention will take the : >place of the substance of West's intellectual achievements. In which : >case America, including Afro-America will make all of its judgements : >based on how he is *represented* and what he *represents* rather than : >who he is, or what he does, or the content of his message. It seems to : >me that the only thing which can counter this is a genuine understanding : >of his work. : > : >Can that be gotten, given the way most of us were introduced? Are : >first impressions everything? : I would hope to God that West does not sellout just for the sake of "the : cachet of white attention". I've met the man, and he doesn't strike me as : the type to do that. : I would also hope that people would not judge West from what they see and : hear on TV and radio and read in the newspapers. He is a complex thinker, : not fully mature but showing great potential. I think he deserves more : than a summary dismissal because he's in the white media spotlight. : Which is not to say I do not have problems with his thoughts, but that's : another story altogether... :-) : Be true. : -rsh : -- : ` Robert S. Hahn hahn@deshaw.com : --- | "Jesus Saves! But Gretzky grabs the rebound! (212)478-0610 :Phone : O |- He shoots! He scores! Kings win in overtime!" (212)478-0100 :Fax : |____ -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- mbowen@panix.com harambee! mdcb@delphi.com 'When I was in the torture chamber, my thoughts were fixed on my own campaign for liberation and not on what to me seemed the idiotic fixations of my oppressor. Thus all their questions and comments are obscure to me now.' -- Samuel R. Delany ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- The following article is from Socialist Worker, paper of the International Socialist Organization, August 1993, No.196, p.10. Subscriptions can be obtained from Socialist Worker, P.O. Box 16085, Chicago, IL 60616 (US First Class Mail $12.50; Institutional $18; Canada and Mexico $12.50; Overseas Air Mail $25, $28 to Australia) Cornel West, Making of a Media Star by Lee Sustar ----------------------------------- Cornel West has been hailed as an intellectual giant by virtually every serious media organization in the country. The New York Times Magazine hailed him in a major story. Time and Newsweek ran profiles of a length and style usually reserved for entertainment celebrities and big-name politicians. Lenghty interviews with West have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. The Seattle Times ran excerpts of his book, Race Matters. It was perhaps no surprise that newspapers like the liberal Washington Post gave the book a positive review. But even the conservative Dallas Morning News gave West the star treatment in a June 13 book review and a July 13 profile. In a PBS McNeil-Lehrer News Hour interview, West was treated as the foremost social critic in the U.S. Network news reporters seek sound bites from West on racial issues of the day. The hype has accelerated sales of Race Matters. Beacon Press quickly sold out of its initial 45,000 print run. What is more, West recently received a $100,000 advance for a book on Black-Jewish relations to be written with Michael Lerner, editor of the liberal magazine Tikkun. How has a black sociologist unknown outside academic and left circles a few months ago been transformed into a media star? The most important reason is the dramatic shift in political consciousness in the U.S. since George Bush got 90 percent approval ratings after the Gulf War in 1991. Los Angeles Rebellion --------------------- The Los Angeles rebellion, recession and "jobless recovery" led to the downfall of the Reagan-Bush Republicans. Clinton was elected because he promised "change." All this opened up a space in public debate for social criticism from the left. West, an engaging speaker and prolific writer, was well placed to take advantage of this opportunity. Yet the more liberal climate does not fully explain the adulation given West. He is seen as a hot commodity in the media because although Race Matters documents the social ills that millions want to discuss, it lets the employers and the government off the hook. West sees an abstract, impersonal market as the problem without taking a clear aim at the ruling class that profits from it. This makes West a safe bet for publishers and editors. They can promote him to a public desperate for a discussion of the burning issues precisely because he does not call for protests or class struggle. A rare critical review of Race Matters in the St.Petersburg Times (Fla) summed up West's shortcomings. "At 105 pages, West seems to hit most of the issues, but is capable only of giving simplistic answers to the race troubles plaguing the country," wrote reviewer Tanara Bowie. "All Americans have to do is follow simple advice : '...our ideals of freedom, democracy and equality must be invoked to invigorate all of us, especially the landless, propertyless and the luckless.' West doesn't seem to realize that all of this has been said before with little success ." Smooth Out His Radical Edge --------------------------- It must be said that West goes along with his promoters' efforts to smooth out his radical edge. This is clear when you compare his left-wing speech to a Black audience at a Chicago book fair to his moderate interviews with leading publications. According to the May 20 Chicago Tribune, West said at the African American Book Center, "Nobody in America likes to acknowledge that 1 percent of the population owns 30 percent of the wealth. Ninety percent are scrambling over the crumbs. "The issue of redistribution of wealth is crucial. You can't talk about Black folk without talking about poverty... "I do not believe food, shelter, healthcare, child care ought to be connected to a job. The average annual income is $31,000. In Chicago with three kids that's nothing! You and the Holy Ghost just gettin' by." But given a mass audience via a USA Today interview published June 22, West didn't demand a redistribution of wealth. Nor did he argue for the necessity to put human needs above profit. In an interview in the May 9 Los Angeles Times, he counterposed the "institutional buffers" of the Black family and the "closer-knit neighbourhoods of 20 years ago to today. Nowhere in his recent round of interviews does West call for Blacks or anyone else to fight back against the racism and poverty that he criticizes. Nor does West criticize Clinton for his broken promises and turn to the right. "Fairly Calculated Actions" --------------------------- A reporter asked West what he thought of Clinton's efforts to "distance himself from the African-American community through what seems like fairly calculated actions." "I couldn't mind his wanting to win the election," West said. "He had to get Bush out. He wanted to realign the electorate after years of the other side being so successful playing the race card." He broke the Republican hold. I admire him for that." In other words, West argues that to win the election it was acceptable for Clinton to preempt Bush's race-baiting with his own. West, who admonished Black Americans for their "nihilism," exempts Clinton from his moral critique of the U.S. And far from demanding a redistribution of wealth, West took pains in the Globe interview to distinguish between criticisms of "market culture" and the market in general. "Now markets do play a very important role in our economy," he said. "I don't want to downplay that. I don't want in any way to be cast as one who trashes markets." At his worst, West plays into the racist stereotypes of the right. In an issue of Time, he is quoted as saying: "For too long black brothers have been beating up black sisters just like the white policemen beat up Rodney King. We've got to clean up the moral content of Black freedom struggle. Of course, all violence against women must be condemned. But it is absurd to compare the behaviour of individual Black men with racist cop violence. One is an act of individual powerlessness and desperation. The other is part of a racist "justice" system that imprisons over a million Black males. By suggesting a moral equivalency between the two cases, West renders his social criticism irrelevant. Here as elsewhere, West shifts the focus away from struggle against social problems and toward changing individual behaviour. Which is just fine for the major publications that hail him as a "prophet." According to the June 7 Newsweek, West "seems on the verge of major stardom in that twilight zone where intellectual debate and TV talk meet." Unfortunately, there is little indication that West will use his growing influence to organize for social change. Newsweek described him as a "world class clothes horse" and an "elegant prophet wi cars and flashy cuff links." One suspects that if Cornel West developed a taste for struggle, the media would treat him differently. </body> </html>