Philosopher Linda Martín Alcoff captivated a packed lecture hall at MTSU on Friday with her talk about the lingering power of colonialism in cultural racism and what can be done to oppose it.

Upon introducing her to the room full of students and fellow philosophers, Professor Gregory Slack characterized Alcoff as “one of the world’s leading philosophers of race, as well as one of the leading philosophers of feminism.” 

Her lecture built on the previous works of philosophers Frantz Fanon and Fernando Ortiz, who introduced the ideas of “cultural racism” and “transculturation” to the field.

Alcoff began by making a distinction between cultural racism — the subject of her lecture — and the biological racism most associated with the eugenics movement and Naziism. While biological racism poses that there is a racial hierarchy based on genetic factors, cultural racism explores a hierarchy based on shared values and ways of life. Cultural racism is different than xenophobia or ethnocentrism, she said.

“Ethnic dislike is ubiquitous in human history,” Alcoff said, explaining that some cultures may dislike another’s food or fashion choices. “But racism [is] more than that. It was not just saying, ‘I don’t like what they do. I don’t like what they eat,’ but ‘They are inferior.’”

She used Fanon’s argument — that cultural racism is ultimately meant to destroy and exploit certain cultures by garnering public support for the exclusion of certain immigrant or refugee populations — to show modern uses of cultural racism. 

One example Alcoff used was the dynamic of Russia and Ukraine, two countries with similar cultures but separate, unique language and traditions. Vladimir Putin bashed Ukrainian culture and language leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Alcoff said. 

“In other words, [Putin] used cultural reasons to deny Ukrainians the right to political sovereignty,” Alcoff said. In response, she said Ukrainian culture has embraced more Western values and stopped teaching Russian at schools in Kyiv.

Another example she gave was the federal government’s treatment of Indigenous Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries.

“It enforces projects of coercive assimilation,” Alcoff said. “Such as the Indian boarding schools used in North America beginning in the 19th century that separated children from their families, attempted to destroy languages and were portrayed as that humane alternative to genocidal practices.”

There are ways to stand up to cultural racism, Alcoff said. One way is to change how people think about how cultures interact, according to Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz.

Ortiz coined transculturation, the idea that cultures intermix with each other instead of dominant cultures taking over lesser ones, in the 1940s. This more fluid view of culture directly counters the hierarchical school of thought. 

“The concept of transculturation opposes the liberal strategy of defending immigration on the grounds that ‘Don’t worry, our country won’t change,’” Alcoff said. “It is going to change. It changes all the time. It’s changed from the beginning, changed before the beginning, right? It is going to change.”

She explained how migrants from Central and South America don’t just learn English and adapt to new ways, but they also bring bits of their culture, including food and traditions, with them. The cultural exchange is not one-sided. 

Following the lecture, Alcoff answered a couple of questions from the audience.

“I find that, like, a lot of modern Christianity has been built up around these more conservative ideals,” student Zane Johnson said.  “Which I don’t feel like blend together, but [go] against things that [Alcoff] talked about today.”

Johnson then asked Alcoff how her religious views impacted her thoughts on culture.

She answered that all religions face problems, but there are people within those congregations who fight to bring out the best and “truest” aspects of religion. Being aware of potential cultural bias also helps, Alcoff said. 

Attendees were encouraged to attend a reception at a private residence following the lecture. 

Alcoff’s latest book, “Race and Racism: A Decolonial Approach, ” releases this fall, and it continues her study on cultural racism.

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