George Dewey Yancy (born June 3, 1961)[1] is an American philosopher who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at
Emory University. He is a distinguished Montgomery Fellow at
Dartmouth College, one of the college's highest honors.[2] In 2019–20, he was the
University of Pennsylvania's Inaugural Provost's Distinguished Visiting Faculty Fellow. He is the editor for
Lexington Books' "Philosophy of Race" book series.[3] He is known for his work in
critical whiteness studies,
critical philosophy of race, critical phenomenology (especially racial embodiment), and
African American philosophy, and has written, edited, or co-edited more than 20 books. In his capacity as an academic scholar and a public intellectual, he has published over 200 combined scholarly articles, chapters, and interviews that have appeared in professional journals, books, and at various news sites.
Yancy has authored numerous essays and conducted interviews at both The New York Times' philosophy column "The Stone," [4] and at Truthout. Additionally, he has published at CounterPunch, The Guardian, Inside Higher Ed, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. At "Academic Influence," Yancy has been called one of the top 10 influential philosophers in the decade spanning 2010–2020, due in part to the number of citations and web presence.[5]
Education and career
Yancy received his B.A. in philosophy from the
University of Pittsburghcum laude in 1985, his M.A. in philosophy from
Yale University in 1987, his M.A. in
Africana studies from
New York University (NYU) in 2004, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from
Duquesne University with distinction in 2005. He began teaching at Duquesne in 2005, progressing from assistant professor to full professor in eight years, 2005–2013. After teaching at Duquesne for ten years, he moved to teach philosophy at Emory University in 2015.[2]
As an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, Yancy wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on
Bertrand Russell's Sense Data theory. His honors thesis was directed by American philosopher and epistemologist
Wilfrid Sellars. Also at Pitt, he studied
Kant under
Nicholas Rescher, studied with
Adolf Grunbaum on
Freud's theory of religion, studied
Martin Heidegger under
John Haugeland, and took a graduate seminar on Plato taught by
Mary Louise Gill, and modern philosophy under
Annette Baier.[6] Yancy also took a course entitled Human Nature taught by prominent political theorist
John W. Chapman, which explored questions of human nature from Plato to Marx, Sartre, Freud and Skinner. While at Yale University, he took graduate seminars with eminent philosophers such as
John Edwin Smith (on pragmatism),
Maurice Natanson (on the thought of Alfred Schutz), Rulon Wells (on the philosophy of G. W. Leibniz), and others. While at New York University, Yancy took a seminar on democracy with political and economic theorist
Leonard Wantchekon, a Black history course with historian Robert Hinton, and a seminar with poet
Kamau Brathwaite in which Yancy was exposed to surrealism, magical realism, and radical decolonial ways to rethink W. Shakespeare's The Tempest. The Consortium that existed between NYU and Columbia University allowed Yancy to enroll in a seminar on Gender and the Diaspora taught by cultural anthropologist
Donna Daniels at Columbia University. Yancy also wrote his MA thesis under the direction of Columbia University's comparative literary theorist
Farah Griffin. While at Duquesne University, Yancy wrote his dissertation on race and embodiment under philosopher
Fred Evans.
Media appearances
Yancy has been interviewed on various radio stations throughout the U.S. He has also appeared in two documentaries, the six-episode series Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (2018),[7] and Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence (2019).[8]
"Dear White America"
In 2015 Yancy published an article in the New York Times' philosophy column, The Stone, entitled "Dear White America".[9] The article generated considerable controversy, resulting in him receiving large amounts of hate mail and harassment.[10] This experience later helped convince the
American Philosophical Association to issue a statement denouncing bullying and harassment.[11] It also resulted in Yancy being added to the
Professor Watchlist, a website which purports to document anti-conservative college professors, in 2016.[12] He received over 1,000 messages of support. 68 philosophers and intellectuals signed a letter in his defense, supporting his freedom and the freedom of others to engage in philosophical discussions regarding major social and political issues.[13] In response to being placed on the Professor Watchlist, Yancy wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times entitled "I am a Dangerous Professor."[14]
Works
Books
In Sheep's Clothing: The Idolatry of White Christian Nationalism. Edited by George Yancy and Bill Bywater. Separate introductions by George Yancy and Bill Bywater; Foreword by J. Kameron Carter. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).
Until Our Lungs Give Out: Conversations on Race, Justice, and the Future. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).
Black Men from Behind the Veil: Ontological Interrogations. Edited and introduction by George Yancy (Lexington Books, 2022).
Across Black Spaces: Essays and Interviews from an American Philosopher. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020)
Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections. Co-edited and Introductory comments with Emily McRae (Lexington Books, 2019)
Educating For Critical Consciousness. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy (Routledge, 2019)
Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018)
On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis. (Oxford University Press, 2017)
Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race in America, Second Edition. Foreword by Linda Alcoff. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017)
Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk about Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes. Co-edited with Maria del Guadalupe Davidson and Susan Hadley. Introduction by George Yancy. Afterword by Farah Jasmine Griffin. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). This book was a STARRED Review and was also selected as the Booklist Top 10 List of the Best Diverse Nonfiction Titles in 2017.
White Self-Criticality beyond Anti-Racism: How Does It Feel to Be a White Problem? Edited with introduction by George Yancy. (Lexington Books, 2015)
Exploring Race in Predominantly White Classrooms: Scholars of Color Reflect. (Critical Social Thought Series). Co-edited with Maria Del Guadalupe Davidson. Co-authored Introduction and additional submission of chapter. (Routledge, 2014)
Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics. Co-edited and co-authored Introduction with Janine Jones and additional submission of chapter. (Lexington Books, 2013). The first paperback edition of this book was published in 2014 along with a new preface written by the editors.
Look, A White! Philosophical Essays on Whiteness. Foreword by Naomi Zack. (Temple University Press, 2012)
Christology and Whiteness: What Would Jesus Do? Edited with Introduction by George Yancy. (Routledge, 2012)
Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. (SUNY Press, 2012)
Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop. Co-edited and co-authored Introduction with Susan Hadley. (Routledge, 2011)
The Center Must Not Hold: White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy. Foreword by Sandra Harding. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy. (Lexington Books, 2010). The Center Must Not Hold: White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy was reprinted in paperback edition in 2011.
Critical Perspectives on bell hooks. Co-edited with Maria Del Guadalupe Davidson. Co-authored Introduction and additional submission of chapter. (Routledge, 2009)
Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race. Foreword by Linda Alcoff. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008). Received Honorable Mention from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights.
Philosophy in Multiple Voices. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007). Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 2009.
Narrative Identities: Psychologists Engaged in Self-Construction. Co-edited with Susan Hadley. Preface by Yancy and Hadley. (Jessica Kingsley Press, 2005)
White on White/Black on Black. Foreword by Cornel West. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005). Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 2005.
What White Looks Like: African American Philosophers on the Whiteness Question. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. (Routledge, 2004)
The Philosophical I: Personal Reflections on Life in Philosophy. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002)
Cornel West: A Critical Reader. Afterword by Cornel West. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. (Blackwell Publishers, 2001)
African-American Philosophers: 17 Conversations. Edited with Introduction, and all interviews conducted by George Yancy. (Routledge, 1998). Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 1999.
The New York Times and Truthout articles and interviews conducted by Yancy
(with
Jeanine Weeks Schroer), "This Black History Month, Let's Recognize the Vitality of Black Feminist Thought." February 27, 2024.
(with
A. Todd Franklin), “Honoring Emmett Till Means Never Looking Away From the Horror of White Supremacy.” February 26, 2024.
(with
Molefi Kete Asante), "What is it About Black History that Frightens the Hell Out of the Far Right?" February 24, 2024.
(with
E. Anthony Muhammad), "Black Existentialism Brings Philosophy to Bear on Our White Supremacist World." February 21, 2024.
(with
Teresa Blankmeyer Burke), "What Can Deaf Philosophy Teach the World and How Will it Change it?" February 11, 2024.
(with
Josiah Ulysses Young III), "MLK Was a Philosopher of Hope. He Reminds US That Apathy Is a Dead End." January 15, 2024.
(with
Drew Leder), "How Can Philosophy Speak to a World in Crisis? The Answer May Lie in Our Bodies." January 7, 2024.
(with
Tim Wise), "Clinging to Whiteness Offers False Safety: True Liberation Requires Unending It." December 25, 2023.
(with
Michael Sawyer), "What Would Malcolm X Say About Gaza and Black resistance in the US Today?" December 23, 2023.
(with
Judith Butler), "Judith Butler: Palestinians Are Not Being 'Regarded as People' by Israel and US." October 31, 2023.
(with
Dorothy Roberts), "Dorothy Roberts Lays Out a Damning Expose of Medical Racism and 'Child Welfare.'" September 17, 2023.
(with
H. A. Nethery), "White Supremacy and 'White Innocence' Were Behind the Killings in Jacksonville." September 8, 2023.
(with
Liat Ben-Moshe), "Institutions Often Treat Disability and Mental Health Not With Care But Violence." June 15, 2023.
(with
Joe Feagin), "How Can We Resist Book Bans? This Banned Author Has Ideas." May 18, 2023.
(with
Idil Abdillahi), "Jordan Neely Is Being Blamed for His Own Death Due to Sanism and Racism." May 5, 2023w.
(with
Subini Annamma), "Let's Confront Ideas of 'Normality' -- They Are Rooted in Racism and Ableism." April 11, 2023.
(with
Laurence Ralph), "Policing Does Not Have Problems -- It is the Problem." April 8, 2023.
(with
Talila A. Lewis), "Incarceration and Ableism Go Hand in Hand, Says Abolitionist Talila Lewis." January 8, 2023.
(with
Talila A. Lewis), "Ableism Enables All Forms of Inequity and Hampers All Liberation Efforts." January 3, 2023.
"Let's Honor Kevin Johnson by Dismantling the Systems that Failed Him," December 3, 2022.
(with
Christine Wieseler), "The 'Problem' Isn't Disabled Bodies, It's the Violent Structure of Our Society." October 11, 2022.
(with
Joel Michael Reynolds), "Ableism Organizes Most Social Life. How Do We Dismantle It?" September 25, 2022.
(with
Frank B. Wilderson III), "Afropessimism Forces US to Rethink Our Most Basic Assumptions About Society," September 14, 2022.
"Innocent White People Are Also Complicit in the Anti-Black Murders in Buffalo," May 17, 2022.
(with
Robin D. G. Kelley). "Robin Kelley: White Indifference Is Normalizing Spectacular Acts of Violence," May 5, 2022.
"If the State of the World Makes You Want to Scream, You're Not Alone," April 11, 2022.
(with
Adele Norris), "Anti-Black Racism IS Global. So Must Be the Movement to End It," March 14, 2022.
"Death Surrounds US: We Cannot Ignore Its Reality, or Its Mystery," February 5, 2022.
"Death Is for the Living." (The New York Times, physical copy). Tuesday, January 4, 2022, A16.
"What I learned About Death From 7 Religious Scholars, 1 Atheist and My Father," January 2, 2022.
"bell hooks, We Will Always Rage On With You," December 21, 2021.
"George Floyd Isn't in the Headlines, But Trauma Continues for Black Men Like Me," November 9, 2021.
"No, Black People Can't Be 'Racist,'" October 20, 2021.
(with
Mark Lewis Taylor). "Christianity IS Empty If It Doesn't Address the Racist Carceral State," September 26, 2021.
(with
Brian Burkhart). "US Founders Demonized Indigenous People While Coopting Their Political Practices," August 15, 2021.
(with
Akwugo Emejulu). "Black Feminist 'Back Talk' Anchors Resistance on Both Sides of the Atlantic," July 17, 2021.
(with
Kelly Brown Douglas). "Black Womanist Theology Offers Hope in the Face of White Supremacy," June 19, 2021.
(with
Robin D.G. Kelley). "The Tulsa Race Massacre Went Way Beyond "Black Wall Street"", June 1, 2021.
(with
David Roediger). "It's Time for 'Whiteness as Usual' to End: How do we overcome the death wish of white supremacy?", May 23, 2021.
(with
Noam Chomsky). "Chomsky: Big Pharma Cares More About Profiting From COVID Than Human Survival", May 10, 2021.
(with
Noam Chomsky). "Chomsky: Protests Unleashed by Murder of George Floyd Exceed All in US History", May 7, 2021.
"Being 'Anti-Racist' Isn't Enough. The Violence of Whiteness Itself Must Be Exposed", April 5, 2021.
(with
Chelsea Watego). "'I Can't Breathe' Is a Cry Well Known to Black Indigenous People in Australia", March 24, 2021.
(with
Susannah Heschel). "White Supremacist Christianity Drives Trump's Loyal Mob. We Must Scream It Down", March 12, 2021.
(with
Cornel West). "Cornel West: The Whiteness of Harvard and Wall Street IS 'Jim Crow, New Style'", March 5, 2021.
(with
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor). "White Journalists' Use of the N-Word IS an Intolerable Assault on Black Freedom", February 27, 2021.