In Black and White: A Hermeneutic Argument against “Transracialism”Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Passing, Philosophy, United States on 2018-04-19 00:47Z by Steven |
In Black and White: A Hermeneutic Argument against “Transracialism”
Res Philosophica
Volume 95, Issue 2, April 2018
Pages 303-329
Tina Fernandes Botts, Professor of Philosophy
California State University, Fresno
Transracialism, defined as both experiencing oneself as, and being, a race other than the race assigned to one by society, does not exist. Translated into hermeneutics, transracialism is an unintelligible phenomenon in the specific sociocultural context of the United States in the early twenty-first century. Within this context, race is a function of ancestry, and is therefore defined in terms of something that is external to the self and unchangeable. Since transracialism does not exist, the question of whether transracialism would be ethically advisable if it did exist is inapposite. Nonetheless, at a minimum we can say that racial transition (defined as attempting to change one’s race through artificial and/or associative changes, and living life as a race other than the race assigned to one by society, etc.) is possible, but is very likely unethical, since it is the same as racial passing.
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