Zusatztext Rarely is theory elucidated with such clarity or applied with such historical range. By foregrounding fantasy as the frame that structures our enjoyment, McGowan's The Racist Fantasy baldly positions psychic enjoyment as the unconscious source for varieties of racism, from anti-blackness to antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism. This is a capacious study, able to unveil the function of the racist fantasy not only at the heart of our contemporary capitalist society but also at the root of the Enlightenment thinking that gave birth to our modern world. The Racist Fantasy is a needed corrective to contemporary anti-racist thinking that only nominally invoke the unconscious or that completely ignore its role in structuring the enjoyment that binds us to racism. Informationen zum Autor Todd McGowan is Professor of English at the University of Vermont, USA. He is the author of 15 books, including Universality and Identity Politics (2020), Emancipation After Hegel (2019), and Capitalism and Desire (2016). He is the series editor of Film Theory in Practice (Bloomsbury), and co-series editor (with Slavoj Zizek and Adrian Johnston) of Diaeresis (Northwestern University Press). He is also the host of the podcast Why Theory (with Ryan Engley). Klappentext The Racist Fantasy explores the psychic basis for the racism that appears so conspicuously throughout modern history. Racism persists because it ties into an unconscious fantasy structure for those invested in it. The fundamental racist fantasy positions the racial other as a figure who blocks the enjoyment of the racist. This fantasy takes root under capitalism as a way of explaining the failures and disappointments that result from the relationship to the commodity. To struggle against racism, one must work to dislodge the fantasy structure and the capitalist relations that require it. This is the project of the book. Zusammenfassung What stands out about racism is its ability to withstand efforts to legislate or educate it away. In The Racist Fantasy , Todd McGowan argues that its persistence is due to a massive unconscious investment in a fundamental racist fantasy. As long as this fantasy continues to underlie contemporary society, McGowan claims, racism will remain with us, no matter how strenuously we struggle to eliminate it. The racist fantasy, a fantasy in which the racial other is a figure who blocks the enjoyment of the racist, is a shared social structure. No one individual invented it, and no one individual is responsible for its perpetuation. While no one is guilty for the emergence of the racist fantasy, people are nonetheless responsible for keeping it alive and thus responsible for fighting against it. The Racist Fantasy examines how this fantasy provides the psychic basis for the racism that appears so conspicuously throughout modern history. The racist fantasy informs everything from lynching and police shootings to Hollywood blockbusters and musical tastes. This fantasy takes root under capitalism as a way of explaining the failures and disappointments that result from the relationship to the commodity. The struggle against racism involves dislodging the fantasy structure and to change the capitalist relations that require it. This is the project of this book. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgments Introduction: Hiding the Unconscious1. The Racist Fantasy2. The Fantasy's Breadth3. Racism and Modernity4. The Variegations of the Fantasy5. The Violent Issue6. On the Other Side of Fantasy Notes Index ...

Autorentext
Todd McGowan is Professor of English at the University of Vermont, USA. He is the author of 15 books, including Universality and Identity Politics (2020), Emancipation After Hegel (2019), and Capitalism and Desire (2016). He is the series editor of Film Theory in Practice (Bloomsbury), and co-series editor (with Slavoj iek and Adrian Johnston) of Diaeresis (Northwestern University Press). He is also the host of the podcast Why Theory (with Ryan Engley). ****

Klappentext

The Racist Fantasy explores the psychic basis for the racism that appears so conspicuously throughout modern history. Racism persists because it ties into an unconscious fantasy structure for those invested in it. The fundamental racist fantasy positions the racial other as a figure who blocks the enjoyment of the racist. This fantasy takes root under capitalism as a way of explaining the failures and disappointments that result from the relationship to the commodity. To struggle against racism, one must work to dislodge the fantasy structure and the capitalist relations that require it. This is the project of the book.

Zusammenfassung

What stands out about racism is its ability to withstand efforts to legislate or educate it away. In The Racist Fantasy, Todd McGowan argues that its persistence is due to a massive unconscious investment in a fundamental racist fantasy. As long as this fantasy continues to underlie contemporary society, McGowan claims, racism will remain with us, no matter how strenuously we struggle to eliminate it.

The racist fantasy, a fantasy in which the racial other is a figure who blocks the enjoyment of the racist, is a shared social structure. No one individual invented it, and no one individual is responsible for its perpetuation. While no one is guilty for the emergence of the racist fantasy, people are nonetheless responsible for keeping it alive and thus responsible for fighting against it.

The Racist Fantasy examines how this fantasy provides the psychic basis for the racism that appears so conspicuously throughout modern history. The racist fantasy informs everything from lynching and police shootings to Hollywood blockbusters and musical tastes. This fantasy takes root under capitalism as a way of explaining the failures and disappointments that result from the relationship to the commodity. The struggle against racism involves dislodging the fantasy structure and to change the capitalist relations that require it. This is the project of this book.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Hiding the Unconscious

1. The Racist Fantasy
2. The Fantasy's Breadth
3. Racism and Modernity
4. The Variegations of the Fantasy
5. The Violent Issue
6. On the Other Side of Fantasy
   Notes
   Index