sylvia wynter edited by katherine mckittrick

8/10/2019 Sylvia Wynter Edited by Katherine McKittrick

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O N B E I N G H U M A N A S P R A X I S

Sylvia Wynter

Katherine McKittrick, editor


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Sylvia Wyn erON BEING HUMAN AS PRAXIS

Katherine McKittrick, ed.

Duke Universi y Press Durham and London


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Duke Universi y Press All righ s reservedPrin ed in he Uni ed S a es o America on acid-ree paper Designed by Hea her Hensley

ypese in Arno Pro by Graphic Composi ion, Inc.

Library o Congress Ca aloging-in-Publica ion Da aSylvia Wyn er : on being human as praxis / Ka herine McKitrick, ed.pages cmIncludes bibliographical re erences and index.

-- - - (hardcover : alk. Paper) -- - - (pbk. : alk. paper)

. Wyn er, Sylvia. . Social sciencesPhilosophy. . Civiliza ion,ModernPhilosophy. . RacePhilosophy. . HumanecologyPhilosophy. I. McKitrick, Ka herine.

. . dc

-- - - (e- book)

Cover image: Sylvia Wyn er, circa s. Manuscrip s, Archivesand Rare Books Division, Schomburg Cen er or Research in BlackCul ure, Te New York Public Library, As or, Lenox and ildenFounda ions.

Duke Universi y Press gra e ully acknowledges he Canadian SocialSciences and Humani ies Research Council ( / Insigh Gran ) which provided unds oward he publica ion o his book.


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For Ellison


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CONTENTS

ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ka herine McKitrick CHAPTER Yours in the Intellectual Struggle:

Sylvia Wynter and the Realization of the Living

Sylvia Wyn er and Ka herine McKitrick CHAPTER Unparalleled Catastrophe for Our Species?

Or, to Give Humanness a Different Future: Conversations

Denise Ferreira da Silva CHAPTER Before Man : Sylvia Wynters Rewriting of the

Modern Episteme

Wal er D. Mignolo CHAPTER Sylvia Wynter: What Does It Mean to Be Human?

Bench Anseld CHAPTER Still Submerged: The Uninhabitability of Urban

Redevelopment

Ka herine McKitrick CHAPTER Axis, Bold as Love: On Sylvia Wynter, Jimi Hendrix,

and the Promise of Science

Nandi a Sharma CHAPTER Strategic Anti- Essentialism: Decolonizing Decolonization


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viii Con en s

Rinaldo Walcot CHAPTER Genres of Human: Multiculturalism, Cosmo- politics,

and the Caribbean Basin

Carole Boyce Davies CHAPTER From Masquerade to Maskarade : Caribbean Cultural

Resistance and the Rehumanizing Project

Deme rius L. Eudell CHAPTER Come on Kid, Lets Go Get the Thing: The Sociogenic

Principle and the Being of Being Black / Human

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONTRIBUTORS

INDEX


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Te rule is love.SYLVIA WYNTER, MASKARADE

I is difficul o imagine his book as a comple e and bounded work. While wri ing and reading and edi ing and sharing ideasprocesses and conversa ions ha have un olded since abou ye began well be ore his

ime he ex and i s ideas have been consis en ly ajar. I has also wi -nessed, across he plane and wi h uneven responses, he Arab Spring andongoing s ruggles in Syria, increasing man-made disas ers and resource ex-ploi a ion, wide use o unmanned drones, credi crises, he Occupy move-men s and s uden pro es s, he preven able dea hs o roy Davis, Michael Jackson, Mark Duggan, Whi ney Hous on, rayvon Mar in, and more, heelec ion o Barack Obama, Idle No More, prisoner s rikes in A lan a, Cali-

ornia. . . . Indeed, in oron o, On ario, where I wri e rom and dwell, andin Kings on, On ario, he prison-universi y own where I each, and acrossCanada, prisons are, quie ly and no , proli era ing c ionally benevolen ge-ographies. Te Marikana (Lonmin) s rike he pro es o a varie y oappalling work condi ionsresul ed in miners being hrea ened and killed,reminiscen o , bu no winning, he Sharpeville massacre in . I hope

hese kinds o even s, and he many more unlis edand i is wor h under-scoring he asymme rical ime-place reverbera ions o he even s no ed andunspoken and ye -o-comein some small wayconnec o his work, husdrawing aten ion o he ways in which he ideas pu or h are incomple eand unbounded and grounded and, o use Sylvia Wyn ers phraseology,correla ional. Our work is unnished.


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x Acknowledgmen s

Any engagemen wi h Sylvia Wyn er demands openness. And wi houhe suppor , conversa ions, words, crea ivi y, hospi ali y, commi men ,

and energy o Sylvia Wyn erher openness o my ideas and his book,and her willingness o re urn o many conversa ions lef ajar his projec would no have ma erialized and wi h his ound spaces o cri ically exam-ine and imagine he unlis ed and he unspoken, he ye -o-come, and ourunrealized u ures. More han his, Sylvias generosi y, coupled wi h herprodigious knowledge and commi men o me iculously mapping ou bigideas in very par icular ways, ore up and ore open my mind and my hearas our conversa ions provided, a leas or me, a new con ex wi hin which

o envision radical collabora ive and correla ional narra ives. More speci -ically, he dialogue, ormalized in he chap er Unparalleled Ca as rophe

or Our Species? bu underlying he ex as a whole, no only is oundedon Wyn ers invaluable in ellec ual men orship and call-and-response bualso signals he difficul ask o si ua ing our in ellec ual ques ions ou sideour presen sys em o knowledge in order o his oricize and share our u-

ures differen ly. I learned and con inue o learn a lo rom Sylviaaboureading, wri ing, and riendship, abou he high s yles and he low s yles,abou he in ellec ualli e her genera ion o Caribbean in ellec uals amassed,abou he science o he word, and abou he difficul ies o wai ing and hepleasures o an icipa ion. Tis edi or, hen, ajar, ex ends warm apprecia ion

o Sylvia or her ongoing riendship and conversa ions. Wading hrough he openness o no qui e arriving a he ye -o-come,

and arriving again and agains opping, ooin our unnished his o-ries, as hese ime-space processes are genera ed rom he perspec ive o

he ex-slave archipelago: many colleagues and riends have in errup ed ands opped and dwelled on he ideas pu or h. Te essayis s, I hank, or shar-ing heir ideas and or wri ing challenging pieces ha will enhance how weread he work o Wyn er and engage decolonial scholarship.

Rinaldo Walcot has worked on his book wi h me, inside and ou ,since I began dreaming i . In addi ion o con ribu ing his ideas wi hin, he was an early in erlocu or wi h Wyn er, in Oakland, Cali ornia, in .Tis projec would be very differen i Rinaldo, a s alwar in ellec ual ands ellar riend, did no imagine i wi h me. I apprecia e Rinaldos cri icalengagemen , his hough ul insigh s, and his willingness o engage hecrea ive-in ellec ual-physiological con ours o black li e wi h me. His ideasinspire, and he made his work believable or me, in a world where blacknessis an unbelievable and surprising wonder.


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Acknowledgmen sxi

In he Uni ed S a es, he Uni ed Kingdom, and Canada, many have provided differen kinds o maps and spa ial clues and nourishmen and conversa ion and suppor : Simone Browne, Hazel Carby, ed Gordon, Ma -

hew Mi chelson, Nick Mi chell, Priscilla McCu cheon, Amy rauger, AbdiOsman, Nik Heynen, Richard I on, Paul Gilroy, Vron Ware, Tomas Zach-arias, Joao Cos a Vargas, Omi Osun Olomo, Ben Carring on, Ned Morgan, Aus in Clarke, Linda Peake, Joy James, Ja ari Allen, Anne Brierley, LeslieSanders, Ru hie Gilmore, Craig Gilmore, Jason Weidemann, Mark Camp- bell, Clyde Woods, Dina Georgis, Michelle Wrigh , Aaron Kamuguisha, Jenny Burman, Barnor Hesse, Chris opher Smi h.

raveling be ween he On ario ci ies o oron o and Kings on, I havehad he pleasure o working and hinking wi h a number o migra ory subjec s as well as members o Fron enac and Prince Edward Coun ies: Bev-erley Mullings, James Miller, Margare Litle, Anas asia Riehl, Hi ay Ykse-ker, Scot Morgan S raker, Chris opher Fanning, errie Eas er Sheen, ScotMorgensen, Dana Olwan, Barring on Walker, Sammi King, Elaine Power,Eleanor MacDonald, Magda Lewis. I have also had he incredible oppor-

uni y o each and be inspired by many s uden s a Queens Universi y inKings on, On ario, wi h Carla Moore, Naomi Mukai, Jasmine Abdelhadi, Aruna Boodram, Darcel Bullen, Ka hryn ravis, Maya S is ki, Ka herineMazurok, AJ Payn er, S ephanie Simpson, Ei Phyu Han, and Yasmine Djer- bal really s anding ou as challenging and exci ing scholars.

In addi ion o Wyn ers wri ings, he work and ideas o Edouard Glis-san , Rinaldo Walcot, Hazel Carby, Prince, Alexander Weheliye, RichardI on, oni Morrison, bell hooks, V on he Radio, Hor ense Spillers, BetyDavis, Nas, Achille Mbembe, Homi Bhabha, David Scot, Michael Jackson,Robin D. G. Kelly, Paul Gilroy, Saidiya Har man, Fran z Fanon, Oc aviaBu ler, Kanye Wes , M. NourbeSe Philip, Zadie Smi h, Ebony Bones, Chris-

ina Sharpe, Clyde Woods, S evie Wonder, Ru h Wilson Gilmore, Rober aFlack, YellowS raps, PJ Harvey, Nina Simone, Kara Walker, Chandra Mo-han y, Marvin Gaye, Willie Bes er, Aim Csaire, Lil Kim, Audre Lorde,Chimamanda Adichie, Simone Browne, Edward Said, Donny Ha haway,Mark Campbell, Millie Jackson, Kara Keeling, Angela Davis, Eta James,Gaya ri Gopina h, Fred Mo en, W. E. B. DuBois, Lisa Lowe, Dionne Brand, Jimi Hendrix, Drexicya, and S uar Hall, among many o hers, have allowedme o hink big abou he in imacies among social jus ice, crea ivi y, wri ing,and racial poli ics. Wha newness and s rangeness and love and sadness andsoul so many crea ive-in ellec ual ideas bring or h again and again!


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xii Acknowledgmen s

Friends, amily, and colleagues, oo, who have had an eye on his projecsince i began and have brough heir spiri ed suppor o he work wi hinin essay orm and no : Alexander Weheliye, Deme rius Eudell, Lisa Lowe,

he McKitricks and Zillis, across nomencla ures, and my mo her, ValerieBroderick, who insis s we cherish he conviviali y o recipes. Mark Campbell, Jack Dresnick, Johanna Fraley, and Nick Mi chell each con ribu ed o di -

eren por ions o he long conversa ion be ween Wyn er and McKitrickranscribing, edi ing, lis ening, responding, ransla ing. I can only describehis work as heavy workdifficul , hick, grave. Te long conversa ion has

had many, many versions and several i era ions, and all o hese scholarsgenerously shared heir ime and ideas wi h bo h Sylvia and me be ween

and . Ka herine Mazurok, S ephanie McColl, and Joanne Farallalso assis ed wi h some ediously signican bibliographic de ails, whichI hank hem or, immensely. Nick Mi chell and Jack Dresnick especially,have been my cons an s-in-Cali ornia, working closely wi h Sylvia bu alsolending me heir ears and ideas and inspira ion. During his research a heIns i u e o he Black World Archives a he Schomburg Cen er or Researchin Black Cul ure, Nick also o his surprisecame across he pho ographo Wyn er ha is used or he cover o his ex . Ned Morgan, rus ed long-

ime riend, assis ed wi h early copyedi s. A Duke Universi y Press, Jade Brooks and Ken Wissoker have assis ed

wi h many aspec s o he manuscrip , suppor ing he ini ial vision, admin-is ering he ex a each s age, and allowing i o organically un old whilealso ensuring ha he prac icali ies were accoun ed or. More han his,

heir ongoing exci emen abou he collec ion has allowed me o work pa-ien ly wi h Wyn er and her ideas and consider he manuscrip , as a whole,

a meaning ul and wor hwhile projec . Wha o Wyn er wi hou having imeo dwell wi h Wyn er? Te commen s o he anonymous re erees, grea ly

apprecia ed, were percep ive, s raigh orward, and amazingly use ul ands reng hened he overall manuscrip .

Te insigh s and suppor o he already and ye o be lis edSimoneBrowne, Walcot, and Ray Zillihave been especially relevan o myongoing preoccupa ion wi h he wri ings o Sylvia Wyn er, and each hasdifferen ly lived wi h he discursive and affec ive ou comes ha con inue

o emerge as I read, wri e, and hink he u ures she offers. Zilli has, oo,made me a home wi h hese and o her difficul ideas by encouraging me

o keep unraveling and working hem ou which, afer many years and a


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Acknowledgmen sxiii

long-s anding mis rus o he real and imagined geographies o home, pro- vides a kind o com or able bu unsetling in ellec ual clari y ha demandsunexpec edness. Ellison McKitrick Zilli wi nessed he nal s ages o he book and will, I hope, as dedica ee, keep he ex , and he ideas Wyn erimpar s, ajar.


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Human beings are magical. Bios and Logos. Words made esh, muscleand bone anima ed by hope and desire, belie ma erialized in deeds,deeds which crys allize our ac uali ies. . . . And he maps o spring alwayshave o be redrawn again, in undared orms.SYLVIA WYNTER, THE POP E MUST HAVE BEEN DRUNK , THE KING OF CASTILE

A MADMAN

People ask me, Why don you wri e an au obiography? Bu I havenever been able o hink ha way. My genera ion I hink, would nd iimpossible o emphasize he personal a he expense o he poli ical.SYLVIA WYNTER, THE RE ENCHANTMENT OF HUMANISM: AN INTERVIEW

WITH SYLVIA WYNTER

Te epigraphs ha begin his in roduc ion draw aten ion o a challenge:How o in roduce he analy ical, crea ive, and in ellec ual projec s o Sylvia Wyn er, as well as her biographical narra ive,all a once , while also looking

orward, noncircui ously and wi hou an icipa ory repe i ion, o he essaysand conversa ions wi hin? Te challenge olds over, oo, o no ice he ex-

ensive and de ailed corpus Wyn er has pu or hmore han wo hundredex s and presen a ionswhich comprise drama ic plays, ransla ions, es-

says, plenaries, symposia, and crea ive works. Her work speaks o a range oopics and ideas ha in erweave c ion, physics, neurobiology, lm, music,

economics, his ory, cri ical heory, li era ure, learning prac ices, coloniali y,ri ual narra ives, and religion and draw aten ion o epis emological rup-

ures such as he seculariza ion o humanism, he Copernican leap, Darwin-

Sylvia Wynter and the Realization of the Living

YOURS IN THE INTELLECTUAL STRUGGLE

Ka herine McKitrick


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Ka herine McKitrick

ian modes o biological represen a ion, Fanonian sociogeny, he s. Tedep h wi h which she reads ex s and her innova ive approach o hinking

hrough he ways in which we live and ell our s ories have resul ed in anin ellec ual oeuvre ha pa ien ly atends o he ways in which our specicconcep ion o he human, Man, cur ails al era ive models o being, he

ullness o our in errela ed human realiza ion, and a new science o humandiscourse. Across her crea ive ex s and her essays, Wyn er demons ra es

he ways in which a new, revalorized perspec ive emerges rom he ex-slavearchipelago and ha his worldview, engendered bo h across and ou side acolonial rame, holds in i he possibili y o undoing and unsetlingnoreplacing or occupying Wes ern concep ions o wha i means o be human.

While readers un amiliar wi h Wyn ers work can urn o any number oher essays and en er he conversa ion rom a varie y o perspec ives, mucho her vas and de ailed wri ing li e is racked and explored by bo h Wyn-

er and David Scot in his incredible in erview, Te Re-enchan men oHumanism, inSmall Axe. In his in erview Wyn ers experiences as an an-

icolonial gure emerge no asinci ing he poli ical vision pu or h in her wri ings bu ra her asimplici o a crea ive- in ellec ual projec o reimagining wha i means o be human and hus rear icula ing who / wha we are. Teprocess o rear icula ion is impor an o highligh because i underscores re-la ionali y and in erhuman narra ives. Here, he ques ion-problem-place o blackness is crucial, posi ioned no ou side and en ering in o moderni y bura her he empirical-experien ial-symbolic si e hrough which moderni yand all o i s unme promises are enabled and made plain.Wi h his, s ands Wyn ers subjec ive-local-specic-diasporic an icolonial unau obiography(see he second epigraph here), ar icula edalongside he physiologicalneurochemical-inducedwording o hope and desire wi hin he con exo o al domina ion (see he rs epigraph). Beside phylogeny and on ogenys ands sociogeny / a new science o he word.

Wyn ers an icolonial vision is no , hen, eleologicalmoving rom co-lonial oppression ou ward and upward oward emancipa ionbu ra herconsis s o kno s o ideas and his ories and narra ives ha can only be leg-ible in rela ion o one ano her. Here i is crucial o no ice ha her oeuvrecan be compared o and in conversa ion wi h Aim Csaire, Fran z Fanon, W. E. B. DuBois, Elsa Goveia, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucaul , C. L. R. James, and Edouard Glissan , among o hers; his is an in ellec ual projec

ha , here ore, prac ices co-iden ica ion and coci a ion and honors heconcep ual rame i promises. I is hrough reading across ex s and genres,


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Yours in he In ellec ual S ruggle

kniting oge her and cri ically engaging a varie y o in ellec ual narra ivesrom he na ural sciences, he humani ies, he social sciences, and ar worlds,

as hese insigh s are produced in he shadow o colonialism, ha Wyn ersan icolonial insigh s come or h. Tese kno s o his ories and ideas andrela ional narra ives, oge her, emerge in differen ways hroughou hiscollec ion. Pains akingly avoiding an overview o key hemes in Wyn ers workMan , Man , sociogeny, he science o he word, prop er nos , au o-poiesis, coun erdoc rines, adap ive ru hs, archipelagos o pover yI draw

he readers aten ion o he essays wi hin, which ouch on, ex end, and con- verse wi h hese concep s and, in very differen ways, join Wyn er in open-ing up he possibili y o a new science o human discourse: a sense hain every orm ha is being inscrip ed, each o us is also in ha orm, even

hough we do noexperience i . So he human s ory / his ory becomes hecollec ive s ory / his ory o hese mul iple orms o sel -inscrip ion or sel -ins i u ed genres, wi h each orm / genre being adap ive o i s si ua ion, eco-logical, geopoli ical.

The Essays

Tis is a projec ha speaks o he in errela edness o our con emporarysi ua ion and our embatled his ories o conic ing and in ima e rela ion-ali ies. Te projec is abou how our long his ory o racial violence con in-ues o in orm our lives and our an icolonial and decolonial s ruggles. Te work hinks abou and in erroga es how he gure o Manin Wyn ers

ormula ionsis he measuring s ick hrough which all o her orms o be-ing are measured. And, i is a work ha seeks o e hically ques ion and undosys ems o racial violence and heir atendan knowledge sys ems ha pro-duce his racial violence as commonsense. Tis is no a projec o revilingand hus replacing Man-as-human wi h an ascendan gure; ra her i drawsaten ion o a coun erexer ion o a new science o being human and heemancipa ory breach Wyn ers work offers. Te wri ers here work closely wi h he wri ings o Sylvia Wyn er, bringing in o ocus he ways in whichshe asks us o hink care ully abou he ways in which hose curren ly inhab-i ing he underside o he ca egory o Man-as-humanunder our currenepis emological regime, hose cas ou as impoverished and colonized andundesirable and lacking reasoncan, and do, provide a way o hink abou being human anew. Being human, in his con ex , signals no a noun bua verb. Being human is a praxis o humanness ha does no dwell on hes a ic empiricism o he untes and he down rodden and si ua e he mos


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perspec ive and here ore her reading prac ices, he sugges s, aredecolonialscien ia in ha she si ua es hersel beyond he crass body poli ics o colonialknowledge in order o os er adjoined human needs. Mignolos essay races

he ways in which Wyn ers unveiling o reali yas a na uralized au opoi-e ic social sys emallows her o read par icular momen s, rom C. L. R. Jamess Marxism and Fanons sociogeny o and he rise o scien icreason, anew.

Bench Anselds S ill Submerged: Te Uninhabi abili y o Urban Rede- velopmen , draws on Wyn ers insigh s o hink hrough he ways in whichurban recovery projec s and urban s udies approaches o pos -Ka rina NewOrleans are bound up in a eleological promise ha reproduces si es o blackness, pover y, and s ruggle as perpe ually and na urally condemned.Ex ending Wyn ers discussion o : A New World View and he cease-less geographic workings o colonialism, Anseld asks ha we recognize

he ways in which pos -Ka rina New Orleans is a loca ion o ongoing po-li icized s ruggles ha demand a homeli e: an idemoli ion s ruggles, herigh o re urn, he righ o s ay, as prac ices ha are deeply en wined wi han e hics o recognizing al erna ive claims o humanness. Ka herine Mc-Kitricks essay, Axis, Bold as Love: On Sylvia Wyn er, Jimi Hendrix, and

he Promise o Science, explores he ways in which science and scien icknowledge emerge in he wri ings o Sylvia Wyn er. Looking a he scien-

ic con ours o crea ive labor, he essay concludes wi h a discussion o JimiHendrix, music making, blackness, and scien ic-ma hema ic knowledge oillumina e Wyn ers call o envision he human as bios-my hois and beinghuman as praxis. Nandi a Sharmas S ra egic An i-Essen ialism: Decoloniz-ing Decoloniza ion ocuses on he ways in which displaced and migra orycommuni iespopula ions who are iden iable as immigran s ra her

han indigenousare, hrough he language and heorizing o setlercolonialism, produced as colonizing subjec s. By dwelling on Wyn ersdiscussion o prop er nos , Sharma sugges s ha he inequali ies produced

hrough colonialism no be concep ualized vis-- vis he Manichaean ca e-gories o na ive and nonna ive bu ra her hrough he plane ary in erhu-man consequences o and he resul an shared experience o , and husresis ance o, error.

Rinaldo Walcots con ribu ion, Genres o Human: Mul icul uralism,Cosmo-poli ics, and he Caribbean Basin, reads he Caribbean basin inrela ion o European moderni y. Working wi h he wri ings o Sylvia Wyn-

er, S uar Hall, Edouard Glissan , Edward Kamau Bra hwai e, and Jacques


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Ka herine McKitrick

Derrida, among o hers, Walcot argues he Caribbean region does no o -er an easy unied ar icula ion o sameness hrough difference bu ra her

a space where he cons an nego ia ion o par iculari iesex ending ou - ward rom colonial bru ali iesproduces an e hics o being ye o come.Carole Boyce Daviess From Masquerade o Maskarade: Caribbean Cul-

ural Resis ance and he Rehumanizing Projec invi es a complex andunique reading o Wyn ers drama ic play no only because she unear hs

he in ellec ual provoca ions ound in prac ices o crea ivi yher culling o Wyn ers heore ical-scholarly insigh s ha are embedded in Maskarade ismeaning ulbu also because she sugges s ha such prac ices o crea ivi yare, or pos slave black / Caribbean communi ies, ways o imagine and bring

or h in egra ed and soldered humanand environmen al al erna ives o hecrude mechanics o capi alism ha arose rom plan a ion slavery. Indeed, we can no ice in he essays by Boyce Davies and Walcot, i read alongsideSharmas con ribu ion, how Wyn ers work draws aten ion o he ways in which ransa lan ic slaveryviolen displacemen en orced he neces-si y o blacks o plan hemselves as indigenous o he New World. Tis kindo insigh impor an ly roubles he poli ics o claiming land alongside racialpar iculari ies and akes wha is now being called setler colonialism in adifferen direc ion.

Deme rius Eudells essay, Come on Kid, Le s Go Ge heTing : TeSociogenic Principle and he Being o Being Black / Human, closes he col-lec ion and si ua es Wyn ers insigh s wi hin he con ex o black in ellec uhis ory. Eudells essay surveys key hemes ha emerge in Wyn ers wri ingsand across black s udies, and underscores how par icular hinkers have, ei-

her in par or o a large ex en , challenged he overrepresen a ion o Man.Eudells essay races he ways in which black subjec s nego ia e biocen ricracial scrip s in rela ion o heirown inven ions o blackness. Te essay un-covers he ways in which Wyn ers insigh s on sociogeny help clari y heprocess hrough which blacknessas we know i becomes a reali y.

Yours in the Intellectual Struggle / The Realization of the Living

Over many, many hours Sylvia Wyn er generously shared an analy ical s oryha was insigh ul, crea ive, prodigious, urgen . Te analy ical s ory puor h bo h in Conversa ions and in her o her works is no simply an in el-

lec ual rea ise; he ideas uncover a syn hesizing minda work. Pu differ-en ly, hroughou and wi hin her essays and ideas, Wyn er does no simplyconvey a se o ideas; ra her, she demons ra es he difficullabor o hinking


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he world anew. Wyn ers ideas are, in a sense, invariably verbs, encoded wi h ac ive hough processes grappling wi h he magma o ar-reachingchallengesincluding he unresolved / unsolved problem o racewhichhas come o con ron us as a global human species collec ively living wi h,

hrough, and agains he Wes s incorpora ing expansion. o engage her re-search and ideas is no , hen, o ake up a purely discursive ex ; ra her, her work reveals in ellec ualli e and s ruggle, wi h Wyn er bringing in o ocus

he dimensions o human li e i sel hrough her in ensely provoca ive in el-lec ual concerns and he correla ed prac ice o cogni ion: a mind a work /every hing is praxis.

Te i le o his in roduc ion, Yours in he In ellec ual S ruggle: Sylvia Wyn er and he Realiza ion o he Living, is mean o signal how we mighread he work o Sylvia Wyn er and he essays collec ed here. Many leters Wyn er has pos ed o me, and o hers, over he years have closed wi h he words yours in he in ellec ual s ruggle and have inspired a world haimagines change. Bu he s ruggle o make change is difficul wi hin ourpresen sys em o knowledge; he s ruggle can, and has, reproduced prac-

ices ha pro rom marginaliza ion and hus posi ha emancipa ion in- volves reaching or here eren -we o Man. Tus, yours in he in ellec uals ruggle bears wi ness o he prac ice o sharing words and leters while alsodrawing aten ion o he possibili ies ha s ory elling and wording bring.

Sylvia Wyn ers insigh s, essays, leters, and shared ideas signal ha hersis a generous projec , one ha allows he au hors in his collec ion and else- where o draw aten ion o new s ories o being human ha challenge hepro able bru ali ies ha atend he realiza ion o Man-as-human. I sugges

ha Wyn ers closing signa ureyours in he in ellec ual s ruggleis bes concep ualized alongside Ma urana and Varelas he realiza ion o heliving. Te laters research on social sys ems, he biological sciences, andhuman ac ivi ies has long in ormed Wyn ers work and poin s o her under-s anding ha our presen analy ic ca egoriesrace, class, gender, sexuali y,margins and cen ers, insides and ou sides ell a par ial s ory, wherein hu-manness con inues o be unders ood in hierarchical erms. Te realiza iono he living, hen, is arela ional ac and prac ice ha iden ies he con em-porary underclass as colonized-nonwhi e- black-poor-incarcera ed- joblesspeoples who are no simplymarked by social ca egories bu are ins eadiden iably condemned due o heir dysselec edhuman s a us. A he same

ime, as no ed earlier, he realiza ion o he living mus be imagined as invi ingbeing human as praxis in o our purview, which envisions he human as


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Ka herine McKitrick

verb, as al erable, as rela ional, and necessarily dislodges he na uraliza iono dysselec ion.

Wyn er and he essayis s here do no use ca egories o disen ranchise-men as a s ar ing poin s; ra her, hey ocus on he ways in which such ca e-gories work hemselves ou in rela ion o he human, being human, human being, and codes ha govern humanness. Wyn ers ou look hus iden ies

ha humanness migh be newly concep ualized as a rela ional ca egory, wha she describes in Conversa ions as bios-my hois, ha is differen iallyinscribed by a knowledge sys em ha ma hema izes he dysselec ed. Tisis o say ha human li e is marked by a racial economy o knowledge haconcealsbu does no necessarily expungerela ional possibili ies and

he New World views o hose who cons ruc a reali y ha is producedou side, or pushing agains , he laws o cap ivi y. I ollows, according o Wyn er, ha we would do well o reanima e and hus more ully realize heco-rela ional poe ics-aes he ics o our scien ic selves.

Notes

. Including, i should be no ed, he nine- hundred-page unpublished manu-scrip , Black Me amorphosis: New Na ives in a New World , which is housed a

he Te Schomburg Cen er or Research in Black Cul ure, Harlem, New York.

. Scot, Te Re-enchan men o Humanism, . . Fanon, Black Skin, Whi e Masks , ; Csaire, Poe ry and Knowledge, . . Scot, Te Re-enchan men o Humanism, . . Ma urana and Varela, Au opoiesis and Cogni ion. . Wyn er discusses her signa ure in Tomas, ProudFlesh In er / Views Sylvia

Wyn er. . Tomas, ProudFlesh In er / Views Sylvia Wyn er; Bogues, Afer Man, o-

wards he Human; Eudell and Allen, Sylvia Wyn er.

sylvia wynter edited by katherine mckittrick

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