Reconstructing Inclusion S1E6: What is Race Abolition?: Illuminating Racialization’s Complexity

Reconstructing Inclusion Podcast

In this episode of the ‘Reconstructing Inclusion’ podcast, Amri along with esteemed Philosophers, Dr. Subrena Smith and Dr. David Livingstone Smith offer profound insights into the complex dynamics of race and its impact on society.

They argued that race is not simply about skin color but encompasses metaphysical views, evolutionary history, and social hierarchies. By ascribing certain traits and attributes to different racial groups, individuals perpetuate a flawed system that fosters inequality and marginalization. They also touched on the importance of exploring the social construction of race within academia to better comprehend and address the complex issues surrounding racialization.

Throughout this thought-provoking conversation, David and Subrena highlighted the historical origins of racialization, tracing it back to the Middle Ages and its subsequent expansion during colonialism and the slave trade. They stressed that racialization is deeply ingrained in the ideological foundations of race, perpetuating systemic oppression and exploitation.

Key highlights

• The social construction of race, its historical origins, and its perpetuation of inequality
• The role of individual experiences
• Black culture, revealing the inherent racism within racial categories
• Confronting the challenges posed by racialization
• Affirmative Action

About the Guests

Subrena Smith is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire. She grew up in Jamaica, and moved first to the United Kingdom, and then to the United States, where she obtained her Ph.D. from Cornell University. Subrena specializes in the philosophy of science generally, and the philosophy of biology in particular, and focuses on identifying and combating the misappropriation of ideas from evolutionary biology and genetics by scientists, philosophers, and in popular culture. Subrena is best known for her influential critique of the field of evolutionary psychology, and her paper “Is evolutionary psychology possible?” created much buzz in academic circles and beyond. She has also published work on the question of what organisms are, the uses and misuses of teleological explanations in biology, why evolutionary biology is not a good basis for public policy, and other topics.

David Livingstone Smith is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England in Maine. He has published nine books, including Less Than Human, which won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for contributions to the understanding of racism and appreciation of diversity. The study of humanity in response to inhumanity has been the focus of Livingstone Smith's life work. He has written and edited ten books on the subject. His book, On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It was published by Oxford University Press in 2020, and his tenth book, Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization was published by Harvard University Press in 2021. His work is praised by Cornel West as “a philosophically sophisticated and prophetically courageous treatment of dehumanization, especially in regard to race,” and by Yale University historian Timothy Snyder as “firm but gentle, wise but accessible.” University of Pennsylvania law professor Dorothy Roberts says that he “brilliantly provides a chilling warning of repeating the past and a hopeful call to create a more humane future," and science journalist Angela Saini calls it, "a chilling, comprehensive and passionate account of dehumanization,” and adds that “Smith offers a devastating reminder of the capacity of every human to treat other humans as lesser."

Learn more about David's work by checking out his Substack, Dehumanization Matters

About the Host

As CEO/Founder of Inclusion Wins, Amri B. Johnson and a virtual collective of partners converge organizational purpose to create global impact with a lens of inclusion.

His theory of change is focused on building ‘Inclusion Systems.’ Inclusion systems provide direction and momentum in the complexity of organizations that allow them to be antifragile—leaning into and engaging with resistance, stressors, disruptions, and disequilibrium and being stronger as a result of such engagement.

His book, Reconstructing Inclusion: Making DEI Accessible, Actionable, and Sustainable outlines how organizations can create inclusion-normative cultures and build approaches to DEI that are designed for and with everyone, unambiguously prioritized, and purpose aligned.

Born in Topeka, Kansas (USA), Amri has worked and lived in the U.S., Brazil, and currently lives in Basel, Switzerland, with his wife Martina and their three kids.

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