Call for Papers for Book:
Race and Class
Consciousness: Contradictions, Resolutions, and Reconciliation in the
Ethical Consumption and Eco-Sustainability Movements
Abstract Deadline: Accepting
abstracts until January 1, 2008
Full Chapter Deadline: September
1, 2008
Approximate Date of Book
Publication: Summer 2009
Description:
The alternative foods, ethical
consumption, and environmental sustainability movements in the USA, have grown
exponentially in the past decade. The fusion of white racialized consciousness, 1st
Worldism, and middle/upper class experience drives the formulation of
"ethics", "morality", and "sustainability" that the
Òstatus quoÓ dominating these movements espouse. Rarely, if ever, has the
status quo of these movements written about how [white] racialized consciousness and class
status impact their philosophies and advocacy of animal rights, veganism, fair
trade, eco-sustainable living, etc., in the USA. Deeper investigations by
academic scholars have found that collectively, this
ÒprivilegedÓ demographic tends to view their ethics as ÒcolorblindÓ, thereby
passively discouraging reflections on white and class privilege within
alternative food movements (Slocum 2006) and animal rights activism (Nagra
2003; Poldervaart 2001). Consequently, academic scholars such as Dr. Rachel
Slocum feel that rather than fostering equality, "alternative food
practice reproduces white privilege in American society". (Slocum 2006,
13). This oversight deserves critical redress if the goals of these movements
are to be globalized and accessible to people of color and low-income people.
In addition, this dynamic within
these movements leads people of color in the U.S. to perceive the animal
rights/ethical consumption movement as being "elitist,"
"racist" and insensitive to the experiences and struggles of racial
minorities and working class people. One of the clearest and most recent
examples of movement-initiated acts that encourage this perception by people of
color has been communicated through ethical consumption campaigns. PETA's
2005 use of images of lynched black men, Holocaust victims, and Native
American genocide to parallel non-human animal suffering was perceived as most
offensive by people of color. Complaints about these images by people of
color are often collectively viewed by white middle class animal rights
activists as "speciesist" or
"selfish" ; people of color view such advertisements as ÒracistÓ. Neither
ÒwrongÓ nor ÒrightÓ, such responses deserve deeper understanding and analysis
of the complexities and clashes of race, racialized consciousness, and
speciesism within all communities in the USA and beyond.
Simultaneously, one can see
contradictions within certain pockets of communities of color that uphold anti-racism
and anti-poverty practices from an anthropocentric praxis,
espousing philosophies of ÒfreedomÓ and ÒequalityÓ that do not take non-human
animals rights, holistic health practices, or eco-sustainable living into
mind. Such an example can be seen
from the 2007 NFL player Michael Vick dogfighting case, in
which many of his supporters defend him and dogfighting as ÒculturalÓ-- exempt
from scrutiny from white middle class society.
Because these misalignments of
interests and differing perceptions of ÒjusticeÓ and ÒequalityÓ are real and
cannot be taken lightly, this is a call for papers to address the
contradictions and clashes of "ethics" and "equality"
within white middle class dominated ethical consumption, alternative foods and
eco-sustainability movements as well as within communities of color
that often focus solely on antiracist and antipoverty rhetoric without
incorporating the effects of over-consumption, non-human animal rights,
encouragement of healthier eating, and eco-sustainability into their liberation
and equality strategies. It is also a call for papers to begin to resolve
and reconcile these contradictions and clashes on all sides; particularly for
those with racial privilege and middle/upper class status in the 1st World, who
do not acknowledge the impact of racialized consciousness and 1st World perception
on the production of knowledge, power and policy; and view the movement as
"colorblindÓ, a concept Law Professor, Jerry Kang, theorizes as
equaling Òdefault whitenessÓ (Kang 2000).
Through lenses such as whiteness
studies, critical race theory, humane education, decolonization, critical race
feminism, ecological literacy, womanism and working class studies, this
anthology welcomes voices from people who support the concept of
eco-sustainability, alternative foods, and ethical consumption philosophy,
regardless of the challenges they may present. All disciplines are
welcomed. Interdisciplinary approaches, voices from people of color, working
class folk, and activists from the Third World are strongly encouraged.
The book will tentatively have these
sections:
1. White or Right? Comparing
ethnic minority suffering to non-human animal suffering by Òcruelty-freeÓ
consumption organizations.
2. ÒHealthyÓ as Skinny, White, and Vegan: How
whiteness shapes the concept of Òhealthy alternative food practicesÓ and the
ÒhealthyÓ body in the USA.
3.
Culture or Cruelty Argument: Analysis of creating
ethnically-based cultural identity and solidarity around ecocidal and
non-human animal suffering philosophies.
4. The Unbearable Whiteness of Being [Green]: Analyzing
the impact of white racialized consciousness and class privilege on the
eco-sustainability movement in the USA and globally.
5. ÒItÕs a White Thing, Not Our ThingÓ:
Consequences of eco-sustainability, ÒhealthÓ foods, and Òcruelty-freeÓ consumption perceived
strictly as a Òwhite thingÓ by people and communities of color engaged in
anti-racist and anti-poverty activism.
6. ÒThe Only
Color We Care About is GreenÓ: Reproductions of systemic and
institutionalized racism and classism within literature, ÒcolorblindÓ
organizations, etc., dedicated to Òcruelty-freeÓ consumption or eco-sustainable
praxis.
7. Resolutions
and Reconciliation: Ideas on successfully dismantling these challenges and clashes.
Citation: Footnotes:
CMS or MLA. Avoid creating a bibliography.
Document Format:
Margins: 1". Spacing: 2 Font Size: 12
Word Processing File Format: MicroSoft
Word or Apple Works accepted. Please DO
NOT send a .pdf (Adobe Acrobat file) of your materials.
Pages: Minimum: 15
pages Maximum: 30 pages
Email abstract to Breeze Harper at breezeharper@gmail.com
Sources
Cited
Clark, Dylan. "The Raw and the
Rotten: Punk Cuisine." Ethnology 43, no. 1 (2004): 19+.
Farr, Arnold. "6 Whiteness
Visible." In What White Looks like: African-American Philosophers on the
Whiteness Question, edited by Yancy, George, 143-158. New York: Routledge,
2004.
Kang, Jerry. "Cyber-Race."
Harvard Law Review 113, no. 5 (2000): 1131-1209.
Nagra, Narina. "Whiteness in
Seattle: Anti-GlobalizationnActivists Examine Racism within the Movement."
Alternatives Journal, Wntr 2003, 27+.
Poldervaart, Saskia. "Utopian
Aspects of Social Movements in "Postmodern Times: Some Examples of DIY
Politics in the Netherlands." Utopian Studies 12, no. 2 (2001): 143+.
Slocum, Rachel. "Anti-racist
Practice and the Work of Community Food Organizations." Antipode 38.2
(2006) 327-349.