Alfred Frankowski, “The Post-Racial Limits of Memorialization: Towards a Political Sense of Mourning” (Lexington Press, 2015)

How are cultural practices that suggest social inclusion at the root of marginalizing social suffering? In The Post-Racial Limits of Memorialization: Towards a Political Sense of Mourning (Lexington Books, 2015), Alfred Frankowski, an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern Illinois University, makes clear this central tension at the heart of contemporary American life. The re-election of Barack Obama and the murder of Trayvon Martin form the backdrop to Frankowski’s exploration of both the philosophical aesthetics and the practical manifestations of race in America today. From these two events the book moves to consider examples from Kantian aesthetic theory, through the history of memorials and museums, to examples from music, to illustrate how, in memorializing the past, we may forget both lessons and insights into current social struggles. The first book in a new series on the Philosophy of Race, The Post-Racial Limits of Memorialization: Towards a Political Sense of Mourning will be of interests to philosophers and cultural theorists, as well as those considering questions of race in society.

Dave O’Brien is the host of New Books In Critical Theory and is a Senior Lecturer in Cultural Policy at the Institute for Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship, Goldsmiths College, University of London. His research covers a range of areas between sociology and political science, including work on the British Civil Service, British Cultural Policy, cultural labour, and urban regeneration. His most recent books are Cultural Policy: Management, Value and Modernity in the Creative Industries and After Urban Regeneration (edited with Dr. Peter Matthews). He tweets @Drdaveobrien

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