Transformation Now!: Toward a Post-Oppositional Politics of Change

Introduction. Post-Oppositional Resistance? Threshold Theories Defined and Enacted

Introduction Post-Oppositional Resistance? Threshold Theories Defined and Enacted Wars. So many wars. Wars outside and wars inside. Cultural wars, science wars, and wars against terrorism. Wars against poverty and wars against the poor. Wars against ignorance and wars out of ignorance. My question is simple: Should we be at war, too, we, the scholars, the intellectuals? Is it really our duty to add fresh ruins to fields of ruins? Is it really the task of the humanities to add deconstruction to destruction? More iconoclasm to iconoclasm? What has become of the critical spirit? Has it run out of steam? Bruno Latour, “Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam?” Some forty-odd years after the Civil Rights movement, we are still seeking solutions to racism. The question is how shall we dismantle or redeem the systems that have been put in place to perpetuate racism? To date there have been few answers to this question. There are even fewer options for defining self and society as constructs that do not emerge out of conflict, but out of a full awareness of the realities of the universe and our connections in it. Barbara A. Holmes, Race and the Cosmos AtypicalresponsewhenIwitness,experience,orinotherwaysamconfronted withracism,sexism,homophobia,imperialism,colonialism,orotherformsof social injustice—whether this injustice is reported in the news, experienced 2 • Introduction by my family/friends/self, or expressed in my classrooms, at conferences, or in the books, articles, and websites I read—is to react oppositionally. My blood pressure rises, my muscles tense. I condemn and reject the ignorant views, the stereotypes, the oppressive treatment. I fight back. Indeed, such reactions have become so automatic that they seem like human nature (you push me and/or my people, and I’ll push back)1 or like common sense (I mean— what’sthealternativetofightingback?ShouldIbecomeadoormat,apushover?Should I silence myself and just allow the violence—the unfair situation—to continue? Should I ignore the injustice, avert my gaze, remain oblivious?). My commitment to challenging social injustice has defined me and shaped my career so extensively that at times I’ve described myself by what I oppose: my work is anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, anti-white-supremacist, and so on. (Look at me:Thecrusadingscholar!) Myundergraduateandgraduateworktrainedmetothinkoppositionally,to structuremyarticlesandbookchaptersasaseriesofbinarydiscussionsthat proceed through nuanced contrasts: first, describe other scholars’ theories and perspectives; second, demonstrate the limitations in their views; third, explainwhymyviewsaresuperiortothoseofotherscholars;fourth,persuade readers to reject the other scholars’ views and embrace mine. I’ve developed anoppositionaltoolkit—anarsenal,asitwere—filledwithallsortsofstrategies ,methods,andapproachesthatenablemetopokeholesinotherpeople’s arguments, demonstrate the flaws in their thinking, and persuade readers that my theories are better—more all-encompassing, more insightful, more effective, more worthy of respect. In short, I’ve been trained to demonstrate that my perspectives are right and those of others are wrong. I’ve honed my debate skills and sharpened my oppositional consciousness so thoroughly thatthey’vebecomesecondnature.AsIdefinetheterm,oppositionalconsciousness represents a binary either/or epistemology and praxis that structures our perceptions, politics, and actions through a resistant energy—a reaction against that which we seek to transform. Oppositional consciousness can takeavarietyofmodesandoccursbothinsideandoutsideacademicsettings (classrooms, journals, etc.).2 I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve waded into an argument, jumped into the fray. And I confess, at this point in my career, these intellectual oppositional battles have become kind of fun. I enjoy the scholarly skirmishes,thecriticalbanter,theopportunitiestothinkonmyfeet,tousemy words, my research, and my ideas in a righteous crusade for a better future. I Post-Oppositional Resistance • 3 relishthebattle,andIlovewinning;Iwanttoberight!(Justaskmyfamily.)I’m not alone in my oppositional approach; I’ve learned from the best, modeling myself on the leading scholars in my academic fields, adopting their “murderous maneuvers of dialectical reasoning that negate another’s position as wrong in order to affirm our own position as right—as the one (and only) position” (Kirby, 228, original emphasis). But like Bruno Latour, I wonder: Given the many forms of violence we experiencetoday —environmentalviolence,militaryviolence,ethnocentricviolence ,gender-basedviolence,andthelistgoesonandonandon—“Shouldwe be at war, too, we, the scholars, the intellectuals? Is it really our duty to add fresh ruins to fields of ruins?” While Latour refers specifically to the “science wars”betweencareerscientistsandsociologistsofscience,hisquestionscan be applied more generally both to contemporary academic life and to those of us involved in progressive social-justice work.3 (I define “us” broadly, to include people inside, outside, or straddling the academy; people who are students,professors,student-professors,lifelonglearners,voraciousreaders, mindfulactivists...