Racism aims to annihilate the Other’s desire, not merely to assimilate or dominate it
Evidence
Perhaps the most radical attempt to outline a theory of racist desire from within a Lacanian perspective comes from the work of Daniel Sibony (1978, 1998). Sibony asks “what do racists want from racism?” and he answers “to eliminate the desire of the other.” It is the enjoyment of being black, the pleasure Jews take in their Jewishness, that is hated because it represents a joy in being alive and in being different. Racist desire then is a form of what Ernest Jones called aphanasis. The aim of racist discourse, especially in its institutionalized forms, is not to impose the State’s own desires on the Other (as in assimilationist strategies), but to expel the Other from the realm of desire, and hence from life itself. In this sense, Sibony says, all racism has a genocidal impulse. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1391
Categorization
- DEFINE: Distinguishes racist desire as expulsion from desire (aphanasis) rather than assimilationist imposition — a sharper definitional contrast between racist and assimilationist strategies.
- XREF: Shares the analytic thread with Along the Archival Grain’s treatment of colonial governance of affect and desires — the state policing not just bodies but inner life. — connects to: Racist desire aims to eliminate the Other’s desire, not to assimilate it — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1391; Racism functions as unconscious acting out of infantile oedipal desire.; Racist gazes can make colonized subjects become Other to themselves — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1344
Broader Connections
- Racist desire aims to eliminate the Other’s desire, not to assimilate it
#corroborates(0.97) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1391 - Racist gazes can make colonized subjects become Other to themselves
#expands(0.73) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1344 - Racism functions as unconscious acting out of infantile oedipal desire.
#expands(0.72)