Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-gr6zb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-16T17:50:01.971Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

In Defense of Transracialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Rebecca Tuvel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Former NAACP chapter head Rachel Dolezal's attempted transition from the white to the black race occasioned heated controversy. Her story gained notoriety at the same time that Caitlyn Jenner* graced the cover of Vanity Fair, signaling a growing acceptance of transgender identity. Yet criticisms of Dolezal for misrepresenting her birth race indicate a widespread social perception that it is neither possible nor acceptable to change one's race in the way it might be to change one's sex. Considerations that support transgenderism seem to apply equally to transracialism. Although Dolezal herself may or may not represent a genuine case of a transracial person, her story and the public reaction to it serve helpful illustrative purposes.

Type
Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , Spring 2017 , pp. 263 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by Hypatia, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnes, Elizabeth. 2016. The minority body: A theory of disability. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bettcher, Talia Mae. 2014. Trapped in the wrong theory: Rethinking trans oppression and resistance. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 39 (21): 383–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biss, Eula. 2015. White debt. The New York Times, December 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/magazine/white-debt.html?_r=0 (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Blay, Zeba. 2016. Stop asking what happened to Lil’ Kim's face. You already know. The Huffington Post, April 26. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stop-asking-what-happened-to-lil-kims-face-you-already-know_us_571e569ce4b0d4d3f7240060 (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Blum, Lawrence A. 2002. I'm not a racist, but: The moral quandary of race. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Erdely, Sabrina Rubin. 2014. The science of transgender: Understanding the causes of being transgender. Rolling Stone, July 30. http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-science-of-transgender-20140730 (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Greenfield, Daniel. 2015. NAACP leader exposed as white after faking hate crime. Frontpage Mag, June 12. http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/258338/naacp-leader-exposed-white-after-faking-hate-crime-daniel-greenfield (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Hale, C. Jacob. 2009. Tracing a ghostly memory in my throat: Reflections on ftm feminist voice and agency. In You've changed: Sex reassignment and personal identity, ed. Shrage, Laurie. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, Tamara Winfrey. 2015. Black like who? Rachel Dolezal's harmful masquerade. The New York Times, June 16. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/opinion/rachel-dolezals-harmful-masquerade.html (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Haslanger, Sally. 2012. Resisting reality: Social construction and social critique. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heyes, Cressida J. 2009. Changing race, changing sex: The ethics of self‐transformation. In You've changed: Sex reassignment and personal identity, ed. Shrage, Laurie. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Katharine. 2016. Amelioration and inclusion: Gender identity and the concept of Woman*. Ethics 126: 394–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewontin, Richard. 1972. The apportionment of human diversity. Evolutionary Biology 6: 381–98.Google Scholar
McGreal, Chris. 2015. Rachel Dolezal: “I wasn't identifying as black to upset people. I was being me.” The Guardian, December 13. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/13/rachel-dolezal-i-wasnt-identifying-as-black-to-upset-people-i-was-being-me (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 2002. On liberty. London: Dover Thrift Editions.Google Scholar
Mills, Charles. 1998. Blackness visible: Essays on philosophy and race. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Nashrulla, Tasneem, Griffin, Tamerra, and Dalrymple, Jim II. 2015. Rachel Dolezal said she experiences being black when her hair gets searched by the TSA. BuzzFeed News, June 16. https://www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnashrulla/rachel-dolezal-i-identify-as-black?utm_term=.cvn5Nkddk#.uj451qVVq (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Overall, Christine. 2004. Transsexualism and “transracialism.” Social Philosophy Today 20: 183–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Root, Michael. 2000. How we divide the world. Philosophy of Science 67 (3): S628–S639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchez, Ray, and Brumfield, Ben. 2015. Rachel Dolezal's appearance is “blackface,” brother says. CNN, June 15. http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/13/us/washington-rachel-dolezal-adopted-brother/ (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Schwartz, Ian. 2015. Toure roasts Rachel Dolezal: “The one thing that binds black people is the experience of racism.” RealClear Politics, June 16. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/06/16/toure_roasts_rachel_dolezal_the_one_thing_that_binds_black_people_is_the_experience_of_racism.html (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Shrage, Laurie. 2015. Philosophers on Rachel Dolezal, July 15. http://dailynous.com/2015/06/15/philosophers-on-rachel-dolezal/ (accessed January 13, 2017).Google Scholar
Stryker, Susan. 2015. Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal: Identification, embodiment, and bodily transformation. AHA Today: A Blog of the American Historical Association, July 13. http://blog.historians.org/2015/07/caitlyn-jenner-and-rachel-dolezal-identification-embodiment-bodily-transformation/ (accessed October 18, 2016).Google Scholar
Taraborrelli, J. Randy. 2004. Michael Jackson: The magic and the madness. London: Pan MacMillan.Google Scholar
Timpf, Katherine. 2015. Rachel Dolezal: “Race is not real.” National Review, December 16. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428628/rachel-dolezal-race-not-real (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Walters, Alicia. 2015. I became a black woman in Spokane. But, Rachel Dolezal, I was a black girl first. The Guardian, June 14. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/14/became-a-black-woman-spokane-rachel-dolezal-black-girl (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar
Wolpow, Nina. 2015. Dolezal: “When I was a kid, I drew myself with the brown crayon.” Refinery29, June 16. http://www.refinery29.com/2015/06/89156/rachel-dolezal-transracial (accessed October 17, 2016).Google Scholar