Race, decoloniality and the will for alterity: A critical-ethical approach to racial (de-)subjection and subjectivation in the modern state

在全球范围内，过去十年里，对种族和种族主义的社会政治关切与日俱增，从日益增长的博科运动和土著权利运动到民粹主义右翼政党的分裂政策/言论。个人越来越多地反思他们的生活、他们对社会世界的体验以及他们的自我理解(即他们的主观性)是如何由“种族”构成的。但这种“种族主义”究竟是怎么来的呢？这会给个人/社会带来什么问题？而且，我们如何才能想到有问题的种族主义的可能替代方案？在我的研究中，我的目标是通过阐述一个原始的“批判-伦理”框架来探索这些问题，该框架(主要)借鉴了米歇尔·福柯的相关著作，但也通过与“非西方”哲学的批判性-建设性对话来补充它们。“批判-伦理”反映了福柯(2007年)的建议，即“批判”是基于一种独特的‘精神’，由(特化的)自由的意志驱动(S)，其中包括成为不同于一个人被构成(或‘服从’)的自由的自由(福柯，1984)。我的研究首先使用谱系学方法来批判性地调查现代国家中的种族主体性及其有问题的社会政治和伦理影响。谱系学是一种历史性的调查，它将我们认为是自然的或“必要的”当前实践、话语、制度等“问题化”(即揭示假设/偶然性)。我将主要利用来自英国的历史信息，但也将其与美国和拉丁美洲的种族主义进行比较和对比。通过挑出‘种族服从’，我将有助于福柯(1997)自己的，以及其他(Stoler，1994；McWhorter，2009)关于‘种族’的更广泛的谱系。我认为，种族臣服是现代国家种族压迫和对立的核心。因此，这项研究是更好地从哲学上理解这些更广泛的问题的关键。

Globally, the past decade has seen ever-increasing socio-political concern regarding race and racism,from growing BLM and indigenous rights movements to the divisive policies/rhetoric of populist-rightparties. Individuals increasingly reflect on how their lives, their experience of the social world, and theirvery self-understanding (i.e., their subjectivities) are constituted by 'race'. But how exactly has this'racialisation' come to be? What problems does this cause for individuals/societies? And, how could weconceive of possible alternatives to problematic racialisation? In my research, I aim to explore thesequestions through the elaboration of an original 'critical-ethical' framework that (primarily) draws on thelate writings of Michel Foucault, but also supplements them via a critical-constructive dialogue with 'nonWestern' philosophies. 'Critical-ethical' reflects Foucault's (2007) suggestion that 'critique' is groundedon a distinctive 'ethos', driven by a will to (particularised) freedom(s), among these the freedom tobecome otherwise than that which one is constituted (or 'subjected') as (Foucault, 1984).My research begins by employing genealogical methods to critically investigate racial subjection, and itsproblematic socio-political and ethical effects, in the modern state. Genealogies are historicalinvestigations that 'problematise' (i.e. reveal assumptions/contingencies in) current practices,discourses, institutions, etc., that we regard as natural or 'necessary'. I will primarily draw on historicalinformation from the UK, but also compare and contrast this to racialisation in the US and Latin America.By singling out 'racial subjection', I will contribute to Foucault's (1997) own, and to other (Stoler, 1994;McWhorter, 2009), broader genealogies of 'race'. Racial subjection, I argue, lies at the core of racialrepressions and antagonisms witnessed in modern states. Thus, this research is key in getting a betterphilosophical understanding of these wider issues.