César Cabezas
Research
Unpublished drafts available upon request
My research draws on resources from philosophy, the Black radical tradition, and the social sciences to develop a philosophical reconstruction of the concept of racism according to an influential strain of anti-racist theory and practice. I identify two key features in this tradition: racism is understood primarily as a system of race-based oppression, and the term “racism” is used primarily as an explanatory concept. I develop this basic idea in three interrelated projects. In the first project, I develop an original theory of racism as a systemic and explanatory concept. I also defend my view from key objections. The second project builds on my theory of racism to address broader debates in social philosophy. The third project explores the ethical implications of my theory of racism. In a fourth project, I expand the scope of my analysis of racism to Latin America and the Latinx diaspora. I am particularly interested in clarifying and assessing criticisms of latinidad and mestizaje as racist and colonial projects.
Is Conceptual Inflation a Problem for a Theory of Institutional Racism?
I address the objection that the concept of racism has become overly inflated. The charge of conceptual inflation is often leveled against conceptions of racism that go beyond the traditional understanding of racism as race-based ill-will or disregard. Theories of institutional racism are a common target of conceptual inflation critics, especially when they ascribe racism to institutions partly in virtue of their impact. Conceptual inflation critics argue that theories of institutional racism engage in untoward conceptual inflation insofar as they undermine our moral understanding of racial phenomena, hinder our ability to explain the causes of racial inequality, and even undercut struggles for racial justice. I develop an original account of institutional racism that is immune to all three versions of the conceptual inflation challenge.
Is Affirmative Action Racist? Reflections Toward a Theory of Institutional Racism
Published in Journal of Social Philosophy
Pre-print available here
I defend impact-based accounts of institutional racism against the criticism that they are over-inclusive. If having a negative impact on non-whites suffices to make an institution racist, too many institutions (including institutions whose affirmative action policies inadvertently harm their intended beneficiaries) would count as racist. To address this challenge, I consider a further necessary condition for these institutions to count as racist—they must stand in a particular relation to racist ideology. I argue that, on the impact-based model, institutions are racist if they have a negative racial impact AND this impact is legitimized by racist ideology. Racist ideologies limit social criticism of and collective action against institutions that have a negative racial impact, and in so doing, lend stability to systems of racial domination.
Racism: A Moral or Explanatory Concept?
Published in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
Pre-print available here
I argue that racism should not only be conceived as a moral concept whose main aim is to condemn severe wrongs in the domain of race. The paper advances a complementary interpretation of racism as an explanatory concept—one that plays a key role in explaining race-based social problems afflicting members of subordinate racialized groups. As an explanatory concept, the term “racism” is used to diagnose and highlight the causes of race-related social problems. The project of diagnosing race-based social problems contributes to the pragmatic anti-racist end of developing better political and policy strategies for solving these social problems. This social-philosophical project builds on and contributes to social-scientific approaches to the study of racism. It includes clarifying methodological (e.g. the debate between methodological individualism and holism) and ontological issues (e.g. the nature of “race”, “white supremacy”, “implicit bias”, “institutional racism”) that feature in social-scientific explanations of race-related social problems.
Paper on Mariátegui's Indo-American Socialism and Solidarity
Conditional acceptance pending revisions
I assess the contributions and limitations of Mariátegui’s Indo-American socialism as a solidarity project aimed at the liberation of indigenous people in Peru. I argue that Mariátegui’s Indo-American socialism offers a good starting point for a coalitional political project between Marxist and indigenous social movements in Latin America. Its decolonial contributions include recognizing indigenous people as revolutionary agents, prioritizing cross-racial solidarity, and centering the needs of indigenous people. However, I also contend that Mariátegui’s coalitional politics are flawed insofar as he fails to fulfill duties of solidarity with indigenous people. I articulate this criticism by drawing on a prominent debate between Mariátegui and Luis Alberto Sánchez, as well as Sally Scholz’s deontic account of solidarity.
Paper on Mariátegui and Decolonial Philosophy
Under review
I argue that Mariátegui’s diagnosis of the Indian problem in Peru is part of a rich but underappreciated philosophical tradition that posits coloniality as a key global problem and seeks to find solutions to it. This decolonial philosophical tradition is informed by and advances the concrete demands and visionary projects that arise in the context of decolonization struggles around the world. Writing in early 20th century Peru, Mariátegui contributes to this tradition by explaining the persistent marginalization and socio-economic precarity of indigenous people as the result of a complex system of colonial, capitalist, and racial domination, which in Peru take the form of gamonalismo and imperialist capitalism.
Paper on Mariátegui and Mestizaje
Under review
I engage with criticisms of mestizaje discourse for its role in perpetuating racial and colonial oppression in Latin America and the Latinx diaspora. I examine whether José Carlos Mariátegui’s mestizaje model opens the door to a “mestizaje otherwise”—one whose starting point is the denunciation of racial and colonial oppression. I offer an original interpretation of Mariátegui’s views on mestizaje. While he is often portrayed as a critic of mestizaje, I contend that Mariátegui holds an indigenous-centric conception of mestizaje that stems from his critique of Eurocentric mestizaje. Ultimately, I argue that Mariátegui’s mestizaje model remains tied to racial and colonial ideologies and is thus unable to overcome the criticisms raised against mestizaje discourse.
Paper on the Moralism Critique of Anti-Racism
Under review
According to the charge of moralism, anti-racists are overly focused on condemning others of the “sin of racism”. Moralism critics accuse anti-racists of adopting a stance of moral superiority on matters of race and of being quick to label those who do not meet their exacting moral standards as “racists” who deserve to be shamed, shunned, or even “canceled”. My first goal is to show that many criticisms of contemporary anti-racism in public discourse (e.g. wokeness, cancel culture, moral grandstanding, conceptual inflation) can be helpfully understood through the lens of a more general critique of anti-racism as moralistic. My second goal is to show that the moralism critique fails—at least with respect to an influential strain of contemporary anti-racism, i.e. radical black feminist pragmatism. I highlight two features of the political philosophy of RBFP that are incompatible with moralism—the focus on diagnosing and solving social problems produced by racial oppression, and the commitment to transformative justice.
Work in Progress
A Critical Model of the Politics of Recognition: The Case of Indigenous Struggles in Bolivia (draft available upon request)
Positional Interests and Structural Explanations of Oppression (first draft in progress)
How is Racism Systemic?
Analyzing Systems of Racial Oppression: Micro, Meso, and Macro Levels
Racism as an Explanatory Concept
What (If Anything) Is Worth Saving from Latinidad?
The Comintern-Mariátegui Debate on Indigenous Liberation