Toward a Global Idea of Race A BOOK SERIES CONCERNED WITH REVISIONING GLOBAL POLITICS David Campbell and Michael J. Shapiro, Series Editors Volume 27 Denise Ferreira da Silva, Toward a Global Idea of Race Volume 26 Matthew Sparke, In the Space of Theory: Postfoundational Geographies of the Nation-State Volume 25 Roland Bleiker, Divided Korea: Toward a Culture of Reconciliation Volume 24 Marieke de Goede, Virtue, Fortune, and Faith: A Genealogy of Finance Volume 23 Himadeep Muppidi, The Politics of the Global Volume 22 William A. Callahan, Contingent States: Greater China and Transnational Relations Volume 21 Allaine Cerwonka, Native to the Nation: Disciplining Landscapes and Bodies in Australia Volume 20 Simon Dalby, Environmental Security Volume 19 Cristina Rojas, Civilization and Violence: Regimes of Representation in Nineteenth-Century Colombia Volume 18 Mathias Albert, David Jacobson, and Yosef Lapid, editors, Identities, Borders, Orders: Rethinking International Relations Theory Volume 17 Jenny Edkins, Whose Hunger? Concepts of Famine, Practices of Aid Volume 16 Jennifer Hyndman, Managing Displacement: Refugees and the Politics of Humanitarianism Volume 15 Sankaran Krishna, Postcolonial Insecurities: India, Sri Lanka, and the Question of Nationhood For more books in this series, see page vi. Toward a Global Idea of Race DENISE FERREIRA DA SILVA BORDERLINES, VOLUME 27 University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis London Copyright 2007 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec- tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401 -2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging -in -Publication Data Silva, Denise Ferreira da. Toward a global idea of race / Denise Ferreira da Silva. p. cm. — (Borderlines ; 27) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN -13: 978 -0-8166 -4919 -8 (hc : alk. paper) ISBN -13: 978 -0-8166 -4920 -4 (pb : alk. paper) 1. Race relations. 2. Globalization—Social aspects. I. Title. HT1521.S47 2007 305.8—dc22 2006030304 Printed in the United States of America on acid -free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments vii Preface: Before the Event xi Glossary xv Introduction: A Death Foretold xvii 1. The Transparency Thesis 1 PART I Homo Historicus 17 2. The Critique of Productive Reason 21 3. The Play of Reason 37 4. Transcendental Poesis 69 PART II Homo Scientificus 91 5. Productive Nomos 97 6. The Science of the Mind 115 7. The Sociologics of Racial Subjection 153 PART III Homo Modernus 171 8. Outlining the Global/Historical Subject 177 9. The Spirit of Liberalism 197 10. Tropical Democracy 221 Conclusion: Future Anterior 253 Notes 269 Bibliography 301 Index 319 Volume 14 Jutta Weldes, Mark Laffey, Hugh Gusterson, and Raymond Duvall, editors, Cultures of Insecurity: States, Communities, and the Production of Danger Volume 13 François Debrix, Re-Envisioning Peacekeeping: The United Nations and the Mobilization of Ideology Volume 12 Jutta Weldes, Constructing National Interests: The United States and the Cuban Missile Crisis Volume 11 Nevzat Soguk, States and Strangers: Refugees and Displacements of Statecraft Volume 10 Kathy E. Ferguson and Phyllis Turnbull, Oh, Say, Can You See? The Semiotics of the Military in Hawai‘i Volume 9 Iver B. Neumann, Uses of the Other: “The East” in European Identity Formation Volume 8 Keith Krause and Michael C. Williams, editors, Critical Security Studies: Concepts and Cases Volume 7 Costas M. Constantinou, On the Way to Diplomacy Volume 6 Gearóid Ó Tuathail (Gerard Toal), Critical Geopolitics: The Politics of Writing Global Space Volume 5 Roxanne Lynn Doty, Imperial Encounters: The Politics of Representation in North-South Relations Volume 4 Thom Kuehls, Beyond Sovereign Territory: The Space of Ecopolitics Volume 3 Siba N’Zatioula Grovogui, Sovereigns, Quasi Sovereigns, and Africans: Race and Self-Determination in International Law Volume 2 Michael J. Shapiro and Hayward R. Alker, editors, Challenging Boundaries: Global Flows, Territorial Identities Volume 1 William E. Connolly, The Ethos of Pluralization Acknowledgments I have been very fortunate in receiving support as I wrote this book. I would not have completed the research and the writing of this book without financial and institutional support. The Ford Foun- dation (through the LASPAU Afro -Brazilian Studies Doctoral Scholar- ship), the University of Pittsburgh (through the Minority Fellowship Program and the Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship), and Hart wick College (through the James Jimeson Teaching Fellowship Program) provided the necessary resources for preparing this work as a dissertation. The University of California–San Diego’s Faculty Career Development Program, the University of California Humanities Research Institute, and the Ford Foundation (through the Research - in -Residence Group “Re -Shaping the Americas”) provided the neces- sary financial and institutional conditions for turning the disserta- tion into a book. The Department of African and African-American Studies of Yale University provided access to much-needed secondary and primary materials housed at the Beinecke Library. Throughout these several years, many people provided invaluable intellectual, institutional, and personal support: Asale Ajani, Pal Alhuwalia, Adrienne Andrews, George R. Andrews, Doug Armato, Ays¸egul Baykan, Patrick Bellegarde -Smith, Vera Benedito, Lauren Berlant, Kim Butler, Lisa Cacho, Hazel Carby, Drucilla Cornell, David Covin, Rod Ferguson, John French, Peter Fry, Rosemary George, Jon Goldberg -Hiller, Ted Gordon, Susan Gotsch, Greg Grandin, vii viii · acknowledgments James Green, Charlie Hale, Michael Hanchard, Angela Harris, Burkhart Holzner, Lisa Iglesias, May Joseph, Grace Kim, Nicole King, Vera Kutzinsky, David Lehman, Lisa Lowe, John Markoff, John Marquez, John Marx, Renisa Mawani, Michael Mitchel, Margareth Montoya, Stewart Motha, Athena Mutua, Mieko Nishida, Kate O’Donnell, Colin Perrin, Keisha -Khan Perry, Josh Price, Seth Racusen, Andrew Stein, Mick Taussig, Adam Thurschwell, Frank Valdez, Joao Vargas, Robert Westley, Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, Lisa Yoneyama, Iris Marion Young, and Abebe Zegeye. I thank Avery Gordon, Ray Allen, and Carrie Mullen for their faith in this project from the very beginning; David Campbell for supporting this project; David Theo Goldberg for pushing me to write the book I could; and Doug Armato for taking the risk to publish it. My work is a bit less than, a bit more than, and the sum of every- thing I have learned from my teachers. I thank Roland Robertson for subtle and generous intellectual guidance, trust, and friendship, and Carlos Hasenbalg and Yvonne Maggie for everything and for- ever. My work has also (in no small measure) been affected by the rare intellectuals I have met along the way: I acknowledge Cedric Robinson for his radical intellect and generous spirit, Sherene Razack for a sharp intellect in the service of social justice, Peter Fitzpatrick for a cutting -edge intellectual craft dedicated to pressing political questions, Mike Shapiro for his truly revolutionary intel- lectual drive, and Tayyab Mahmud for his friendship, support, and passionate commitment to the collective project of global justice. Without Tayyab and Mike, this book would never have been. At the University of California–San Diego, I have had the privi- lege to encounter an amazing staff and student body. I acknowledge the Ethnic Studies Department staff —Jackie, Patty, Juanita, Noe, Theresa, Bill, and Yolanda —for helping me navigate institutional waters. Very special thanks to our undergraduate and graduate stu- dents (especially Theo, Jore, Nga Miget, Cecilia, and Madel) who daily remind me of the ethical and political stakes of any intellec- tual enterprise. I thank Julie Hua, Neda Atanaso, Emily Cheng, and Jinah Kim for reading and commenting on early versions of the manuscript. My colleagues at UCSD have made this an exciting intellectual space, both in Ethnic Studies and beyond. Very special thanks to Liza Park and David Pellow for their principled support, to Ross Frank for generously reorienting me when I felt lost in the acknowledgments · ix institutional maze, to Jane Rhodes for her wise words and gentle soul, to Charles Briggs for home fires and intellectual nourishment, and to Yen Le Espiritu for holding my heart as she reminded me of the reasons why we do this work. Throughout these many years, I was fortunate to count on folks who provided emotional haven. I am forever grateful to Philip Mabry, who kept me reaching for clarity and conciseness while I wrote the dissertation that is the basis of this book, and whose love and friend- ship held me through the most difficult moments. Special thanks to Paula Chakravarty and Gianpaolo Barocchi for their radical hearts; to Veronique Voruz and Stewart Motha for making London much more than an intellectual home; to Brett St. Louis for reminding me to remember to look forward to looking back; to Silvia Del Cid, Clara Mantini -Briggs, Oyèrónké Oyeˇweˇùmi, and Boatema Boateng, for being, doing, and saying all those things big sisters are, do, and say; and to my little sisters, Marcia Lima and Laura Moutinho, for not letting me go even after so many years away. As I prepared the final versions of this manuscript, I received a rare gift: my life and intellectual partner, Mark Harris, came home at last. I am so lucky for having my brother Denis, who keeps the best of both of us, and for his children, Daniel, Lucas, and Ilka Maria, who bear my hope. From my parents, Maria Amélia Ferreira da Silva and José Araújo da Silva, comes the force that produced the following pages. Mãe and Pai, I thank you for this gift by dedicating it to you. This page intentionally left blank Preface: Before the Event Our generation died when our fathers was born.