“Offending White Men: Racial Vilification, Misrecognition and Epistemic Injustice”

种族诋毁：错误识别和认识上的非正义

Professor Louise Richardson-Self

WHU Philosophy Spring Seminar Series

Thursday 7 June 2018/ 6月7日周四下午2：30 哲学院B214

Abstract

In this presentation I analyze two complaints of white vilification, which are increasingly occurring in Australia. I argue that, though the complainants (and white people generally) are not harmed by such racialized speech, the complainants in fact harm Australians of color through these utterances. These complaints can both cause and constitute at least two forms of epistemic injustice (willful hermeneutical ignorance, and comparative credibility excess). Further, I argue that the complaints are grounded in a dual misrecognition: the complainants misrecognize themselves in their own privileged racial specificity, and they misrecognize others in their own marginal racial specificity. Such misrecognition preserves the cultural imperialism of Australia’s dominant social imaginary—a means of oppression that perpetuates epistemic insensitivity. Bringing this dual misrecognition to light best captures the indignity that is suffered by the victims of the aforementioned epistemic injustices. I argue that it is only when we truly recognize difference in its own terms, shifting the dominant social imaginary, that ‘mainstream Australians’ can do their part in bringing about a just society.

About the Speaker

Louise Richardson-Self is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Gender Studies at the University of Tasmania, graduating with her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Sydney in 2014. She is the author of several academic journal articles on same-sex marriage. Her book, Justifying Same-Sex Marriage: A Philosophical Investigation, was published in 2015. Currently, Louise is researching hate speech, with a particular focus on hate speech against women. Her latest article, 'Woman-Hating: On Misogyny, Sexism, and Hate Speech', is forthcoming with Hypatia.

Suggested Background Reading

Pohlhaus, Gaile (2012) 'Relational Knowing and Epistemic Injustice: Toward a Theory of Willful Hermeneutical Ignorance', in Hypatia, 27, 4, pp.716-735.

When and Where

Pre-Seminar Briefing

· When: 14:30-15:30

· Where: B214

Tea/Coffee

· When: 15:30-16:00

· Where: Starbucks by the Main Gate (all welcome, at own expense)

Seminar Presentation:

· When: 16:00-17:15

· Where: B214