Lewis Gordon

Lewis Gordon: History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

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Listen to Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon as he discusses Frantz Fanon on "History of Philosophy without any gaps." In this podcast Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, "without any gaps." The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.

Lewis Gordon: Eminent Scholar Roundtable

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Congratulations to Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon, honoree of the Global Development Studies Eminent Scholar Roundtable 2021-2022 organized by the International Studies Association.

The Global Development Section draws together scholars broadly concerned with development and global justice working across a number of fields, for example, postcolonial studies, development studies, critical political economy, critical security studies, social and political theory, history, sociology, gender studies, and public policy. The Section approaches the phenomenon of development in its broadest sense as the study of change, rather than in its narrow hegemonic conceptualization as technical interventions in social worlds. GDS is further concerned with investigating alternative understandings, especially those that excavate the intimate links between development, colonialism, and global capitalism. In this respect, the Section seeks to cultivate an intellectual space or provocation, supporting many ways of seeing and being in the world. And for this purpose, the Section is committed to facilitating diverse modes of inquiry, establishing research networks, and supporting early-career scholars in their professional endeavors.

Lewis Gordon: The Chronical of Higher Education

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Check out Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon in a recent article published on The Chronicle of Higher Education titled “A Philosopher Laughs at Death — and the Public Listens.” Gordon discusses the German philosopher Martin Heidegger and his impact on society today.

**Excerpt from article**

Martin Heidegger exemplifies values suitable for people so enwrapped in themselves that they treat their own death as the end of the world,” he told me. “We really don’t need Heidegger today. We didn’t need him then, in his rector lectures at Freiburg in 1933, with his callous investment in cruel charismatic leadership as a form of salvation. Indeed, I would go so far as to argue we never needed him. We need people who transcend self-absorption, psychotic and sociopathic indifference to the suffering of others, and delusions of importance from societal systems designed to support their limited relationship to reality. We need compassion, courage — something Heidegger lacked — and a clear understanding of institutions of power.

 

Lewis Gordon: LARB Radio Hour

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Check out Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon on The Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour with Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher.

In this episode Professor Gordon discusses his new book, Fear of Black Consciousness, and the historical development of racialized Blackness and the larger issues this type of consciousness leads too. Gordon also discusses the responses Black and non-Black communities display in contemporary struggles for dignity and freedom.

To listen: Click Here 

Lewis Gordon: “Fear of Black Consciousness”

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Check out Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon on WAMAC’S Northeast Public Radio show “The Roundtable.”

In this episode Professor Gordon discusses his new book, Fear of Black Consciousness, and the historical development of racialized Blackness and the larger issues this type of consciousness leads too. Gordon also discusses the responses Black and non-Black communities display in contemporary struggles for dignity and freedom.

To listen: Click Here 

Lewis Gordon: Most Anticipated Book of 2022

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Congratulations to Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon, whose upcoming book Fear of Black Consciousness (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) has been named to Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2022.

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Professor Lewis R. Gordon, the Philosophy Department Head at the University of Connecticut, offers an expansive nonfiction work that critically examines the historical roots of “racialized Blackness” and how this school of thought is shaped by the institution of whiteness. Gordon includes personal experiences, striking a fine balance between the searing imprint of memory and the accumulation of learned knowledge. Gordon points out how anti-Blackness is not only a global commodity but a weaponized form of oppression that even members of the Black community can perpetuate through colorism. His take on the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther raises questions about the world’s view of Africa and the legacy of colonial violence. This book is certainly not a light, breezy read, but Gordon’s surprising observations crack open the mind to connect various creative disciplines.  –Vanessa Willoughby, Associate Editor

Lewis Gordon: Philosophy and Global Affairs, Vol. 1 Issue 2

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Check out the second issue of Philosophy and Global Affairs, co-edited by Lewis Gordon and Jane Anna Gordon. You can also read their contributed articles, linked below.

 

"A Forum on Creolizing Social and Political Theory" by Lewis Gordon

The author discusses Jane Anna Gordon’s proposal, in the 2006 international meeting of the Caribbean Philosophical Association, of creolizing theory. He summarizes the research it generated, including Gordon’s monograph on creolizing political theory, and the set of articles in this forum on creolizing social and political identities and theory.

 

"Creolizing as a Method, Creolizing as a Politics, and the Relationship" by Jane Anna Gordon

Using Juliet Hooker’s explicit criticisms as a frame, this essay first explores creolizing as a method and then creolizing as a politics, drawing on the contributions of Bernal, Bose, Lindsay, and Valdez to address questions including whether creolizing offers any advances for non-European and non-canonical figures whose worlds and thought are already understood and embraced as creolized; whether creolizing methods are of any use in the project of epistemic decolonization; and whether we can assume a prori that political or philosophical projects defined by an open orientation to mixture are necessarily normatively superior to others. It concludes by considering how Monika Brodnicka and T.D. Harper-Shipman’s essays focused on Africa put the methodological and political questions into productive relationship with one another.

 

Lewis Gordon: 2021 International Studies Association Eminent Scholar

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Blue world map with the text ISA superimposed over map secitons.

Lewis Gordon is this year's Eminent Scholar, an award given by the Global Development Section of the International Studies Association. In addition to the plaque documenting the award, a panel devoted to the honoree's work, followed by a reception, will take place at the association's international meeting, which will take place next March in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lewis Gordon: Pan-African Forums, Africa Day

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Professor Lewis Gordon served as a panelist on the Pan-African Forums: Africa Day event hosted by The Elephant.

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To commemorate Africa Day, we think about how Pan-Africanism has reproduced itself, evolved theoretically and practically in different spaces through reflection and critique, and catalysed a range of important initiatives all over Global Africa, focusing on the question of education. What does it mean to educate with the vision of Pan Africanism in mind? Panellists are Wandia Njoya, Jennifer Tosch and Lewis Gordon. Moderated by Mshai Mwangola.