Interracial to Intraracial: Philosophical Inquiry of the Relations of Dominance in Skin Color Discrimination

Almon, Glen

Interracial to Intraracial: Philosophical Inquiry of the Relations of Dominance in Skin Color Discrimination

Persistent URL

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/10456/54578

Author(s)

Almon, Glen

Date Issued

December 3, 2021

Abstract

In this paper, I develop a philosophical theory of colorism that highlights the dynamics that have been integral to the perpetuation of colorism, and how they have been embedded into institutions. In the first chapter, I lay out the historical foundations of colorism starting from American slavery to note its ubiquity and importance. It tells the story of how colorism began as an interracial issue and notes the different forms it took on in the late 19th and early 20th century. This sets up my discussion for how it became entrenched in the Black community and utilized by Black folks as a form of intraracial discrimination in the second chapter. I define colorism as biases that arise in relation to skin tone that negatively affect dark skin individuals and lay out two essential components: dark skin Black women are the most impacted by colorism and reverse colorism does not exist as an injustice. Finally, in the last chapter, I assert that we should decolonize the ways in which we view education and abandon the Black and white lens we often view inequities through. In order to initiate this process of decolonization, I argue that there must be a change in the teacher-student and student-student dynamic that exists as it pertains to the presence of colorism in in-school settings.

Major

Philosophy

Honors

Philosophy, 2022

First Reader(s)

Palmer, Eric