Hannah Arendt on anti-Black racism, the public realm, and higher education. Issue 12 (15th October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smith, Brian
• Is Part Of: Educational philosophy and theory. Volume 54:Issue 12(2022)
• Page Start: 2054
• Page End: 2071
• Publication Date: 2022-10-15
• Subjects: Arendt -- Anti-black racism -- Higher Education; Education -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Teaching -- Periodicals; Éducation; Philosophie de l'éducation; Théorie de l'éducation; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 370.1
• DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2021.1978071
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-1857

Abstract

Abstract: In recent years, a growing number of scholars have accused Arendt of anti-Black racism. Some of these criticisms can be traced to certain passages in her essay On Violence about black radicals making what she believed to be unreasonable curriculum demands, namely the establishment of Black Studies programs. The purpose of this paper is to contextualize these controversial passages within her deeply anti-modern thinking about the role of higher education in society. While her arguments remain troubling, when read along with the critical perspectives of Max Weber and Karl Jaspers, it becomes clear that her essential criticism had mostly to do with the transformation of the university into a capitalist enterprise, where students had become customers essentially seeking glorified vocational degrees. For Arendt, the university should not be a means of employment or another branch of the US military, as it had so become. It was a space where one could escape the public realm and discover a kind of freedom, the life of the mind.