Paul C. Taylor, “Black is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black Aesthetics” (Wiley Blackwell, 2016)
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What is the overall premise of Paul C. Taylor’s book *Black is Beautiful*?
Hello and welcome to New Books and Philosophy, a podcast channel with the New Books Network. I'm Carrie Figdor, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. I'm co host of the channel along with Robert Talise, Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Together we bring you conversations about f with philosophers about their new books, drawing from a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical inquiry. Today's interview is with Paul C. Taylor, Associate Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies and an associate dean for undergraduate studies at Penn State University. With talking about his new book, Black is Beautiful, a philosophy of black aesthetics, which is just out from Wiley Blackwell.
Why is it controversial to cast light skinned actress Zoe Saldana as the lead character in a film about the performer Nina Simon? How should we understand the coexisting desire and revulsion of the black body that traces its roots to Thomas Jefferson's longstanding relationship with the slave selling hemmings and extends to contemporary attitudes towards black hair? In Black is Beautiful, Taylor examines primary themes in racialism from the perspective of aesthetic culture. He considers such issues as black invisibility, expressive culture and politics, and the problem of authenticity and cultural appropriation. He also lays the foundation for analytic philosophical tools to be brought more widely to bear on scholarly discussion of issues related to race and racialism.
Let's turn to the interview. Hello, Paul C. Taylor, are you there?
I am here. Hello.
Hi, welcome to New Books in Philosophy.
Thank you so very much. It's a pleasure to be here with you.
I appreciate your taking the time uh to discuss your new book, Black is Beautiful, a philosophy of black aesthetics, which is just out from Wiley Blackwell. Um and you know, as a as an overall introduction to the book, um you know you're doing uh two two parallel things. One is one is kind of bridging a gap between uh Anglo American or or analytic philosophy. And the categories and concepts and discussion of race and racialism that has occurred outside of that tradition, so in in in critical theory and so forth. So one of the goals of the book is to is to kind of help bridge that gap to allow for more conversation and more input from analytic philosophers into the topic. topics that the book also discusses.
And then of course there is the direct discussion of various um issues within blas black aesthetics, um and we'll get to all of those um shortly. So let me uh to begin, let me just um ask about uh your background. I mean how did you could you say a bit about um your own philosophical background and then how you came to write this particular book?
Sure, I'd be happy to. Um so I did my undergraduate work at a small liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia called Morehouse College. Morehouse is an historically black college and Um We could talk some about that later maybe. Uh uh anyone who's paid attention to the higher ed sector in recent years know that liberal arts colleges are facing some rather profound challenges and historically black colleges and minority serving institutions in general are are facing their own challenges. So uh but this was at a moment before those challenges had really taken root. Um And so Morehouse was in a certain way thriving and this was at the uh height in certain well actually at the tail end of the uh divestment movement in um
around the world where people were concerned with the anti apartheid struggle in South Africa, so this is quite some time ago nowadays. And uh it was also at the height of a certain kind of resurgent cultural nationalism in Af in African American communities. So this is the m time at which people were wearing the Malcolm X caps and Spike Lee's Malcolm X movie had come out and made these popular and and so this was a very distinctive moment at at at a place like Morehouse. And it struck me then that we were inhabiting this moment in a way that could easily uh descend into or lapse into a kind of uncritical acceptance of any number of very peculiar views, uh many of them opposed to each other.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the overall premise of Paul C. Taylor’s book *Black is Beautiful*?
0:08–9:47
2
How did Taylor’s personal and academic background shape his approach to Black aesthetics?
9:47–17:33
3
In what ways does the book bridge analytic philosophy with critical‑race‑theory traditions?
17:33–25:10
4
How does Taylor use the controversy over Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone to illustrate black invisibility?
25:10–33:29
5
What is the relationship between expressive culture and politics in Black aesthetic theory?
33:29–41:27
6
What does ‘sarcasthetic negrophobia’ mean and how does it explain conflicting desires toward Black bodies?
41:27–50:49
7
How do contemporary examples—Beyoncé, Michelle Obama, and modern hair politics—show the book’s themes of authenticity and appropriation?
50:49–58:13
8
What future directions does Taylor suggest for research on cultural appropriation, authenticity, and Black aesthetics?
58:13–1:05:40
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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