On Theories and the Trading of Fictions
on June 19, 2007
Category: African Diaspora, Racism
In ‘The Soles of Black Folk: These Reeboks were Made for Runnin’ (from the White Man)’ John Jackson Jr. writes:
[t]heories often serve to displace and subsume the subjects about which they comment and contend. The wonderfully complicated world in which we live is relegated to the calm, cool and calculated lines of sociological manuscripts that tie up loose ends of analysis such that “theory” ignores the ways in which lived lives exist beyond the hypothesis, outstretch it, outlive it…surely, to theorize is often a homicidal act, a killing of the heterogeneity of the world, a knife thrust into the very heart of life (Jackson 1997, 178)
Just something to think about as we come to so-called ‘conclusions.’
Tags: Racism;
Sphere: Related Content
Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.blacklooks.org/2007/06/on_theories_and_the_trading_of_fictions.html/trackback
4 Comments so far
1. Sokari
June 19th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Kameelah@ I have read this at least 3 times and am still lost!
2. Kameelah
June 19th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Sorry! Let me explain (as best I understand it)…This quote is about the way in which we are quick to apply theories and come to conclusions. In the process of forcing labels and categories and we commit an act of discursive violence–we figuratively kill the subject which we are trying to understand because we are so focused on naming it that we don’t realize that most things in life and in our struggles can never be tied down to a theory or fully contained in academic discourse. IMF, WB are not only about neo-colonialism and neo-liberalism..the lived lives of those who live under these economic empires are not reflective or constitutive of neo-liberalism..their lived lives are more than this and therein lies the importance of personal narratives and discourses from the ground, rather than those delivered from above. Theories and academic discourse often put straightjackets on these narratives in the pursuit of clean-cut theories.
Hope that makes sense
3. Sokari
June 19th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Yes, thanks - It all came together from “IMF, WB…………..clean-cut theories”. Great piece, wow!
4. Changeseeker
June 20th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
The Unapologetic Mexican posted yesterday on this precise issue here. You might find the post, as well as the comments thread, interesting. I found it interesting that your post appeared on the same day independently. :^)