Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Structural racism in "Pudd'nhead Wilson"

Naomi Zack, professor of philosophy at the University of Oregon, is the author of Inclusive Feminism: A Third Wave Theory of Women's Commonality and other works.

I asked her for suggestions of fiction that illustrated "structural racism" in society. Here is her response:
There's always the classic, Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man of course. I also like the movie, "A Time to Kill" [based on the John Grisham novel] on structural racism.
Many thanks to Naomi for the suggestions (and my apologies for taking so long to post this item).

Her current research program involves applications of philosophy to disaster preparation and response that includes a new course, Philosophy of Disaster Preparation and Emergency Response, and a book in progress, Moral Philosophy for Disaster: Surviving and Thriving in the Second State of Nature.

Click here to read about other works depicting structural racism.

--Marshal Zeringue