Clearly then, if we are to discover a universalistic basis for solidarity, we must find new ways of understanding the world. If this is true, she says, then politics itself - that is, our very ability to imagine political change - is destroyed. Whiteness, for example, is equated with original sin, and blackness equated with injury, and perpetual victimhood. However, the contemporary left’s embrace of standpoint epistemology - the belief that an idea can be understood only from the standpoint of a certain group identity - means that groups are seen as immutable, and immune to the passage of time. Because if we are ever to create real equality, we require the kind of power that can come only from a universalistic form of solidarity. Yet, she states, here we run into the problem of anti-politics. After all, given the history of racism, it is not entirely unfair to assume that the victims of racism might have something to say on the matter. Now, some will say the left has good faith motivations in this turn.
However, worryingly, today it is also an increasingly common phenomena on the left. Historically, racial thinking has been a hallmark of the right. Indeed, she notes, in her personal experience, she is seen once again today as a black woman, whose “opinions and beliefs are apparently determined by her race.” Instead, we have seen the rise of so-called identity politics, and a tendency to see individuals first and foremost as members of a race. The problem with this myth, she notes, is that today we are much less likely to see members of racial groupings as distinct individuals, with their own unique identities.
In the introduction to Transcending Racial Divisions, Louis-Dit-Sully writes that, for her, questions about race and racism are both a “political and a personal concern.” She goes on to discuss the common belief that the advance of social liberalism in the west has meant real progress for racial minorities. Today, she lives in the Black Forest region of Germany.
She then left the sciences, and turned to the study of politics, focusing specifically on issues of race, identity, social justice and the demand for ‘safe spaces’ in British and American universities. She spent nearly 20 years as an academic in the discipline of Biology. Hello friends! Its beginning to look a lot of like Christmas, and what better way to mark the occasion than with another episode of Fully Automated! Today, we are very excited to bring you this episode with Christine Louis Dit Sully, author of the recent book, Transcending Racial Divisions: Will You Stand By Me? (Zero Books, 2021).Ĭhristine Louis-Dit-Sully grew up in an immigrant family, in the 93rd arrondissement of Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis - an area of France known for its racial diversity, its poverty, and its complicated relationship with law enforcement.