Summary Of Respect An Exploration By Sara Lawrence Lightfoot

In her book Respect: An Exploration, Sara Lawrence Lightfoot describes a recurring experience where her white graduate students at Harvard feel comfortable referring to her by her first name, but are reluctant in addressing her white male colleges—even ones her junior—in the same way. She then tells a story about a time she participated a in panel at a social science conference on race and gender with another professor, a white male, a few years her senior and known for his statistical approach to sociology. After they presented, the floor was opened for Q&A and the first to ask a question was middle-aged white man, identified as an advanced graduate student a prestigious university, who begins his question with “I would like to address my …show more content…
Professor Lightfoot depicts her severe discomfort and offense at the different way she has been addressed, and goes on to describe how she confronted the situation in the public space to ensure she received her deserved respect.

This story is indicative of Mercano’s idea of the philosopher’s body because Professor Lawrence Lightfoot challenges traditional conceptions of professors/academics in the same way black women in philosophy challenge the traditional conception of the philosopher. Both conceptions involve a linking of reason, rationality, and intelligence to maleness and whiteness, despite the belief in both academia and philosophy that those qualities transcend racial and gender differences (though not in practice). It is a notion that is derived from a historical belief that only white men were capable of advanced thinking because they publicly dominated those …show more content…
The man who addresses the question was likely (hopefully) unconscious of both its prejudicial nature and detrimental effects on Professor Lawrence Lightfoot’s psyche. “And he has no clue about what he has done, how he has injured me.”, she states. Addressing them as such displays a disconnect the white male student has from the point of view of black women; an ability to think beyond his position to imagine the disrespect of his syntax. Further, it could be white vanguardism (idea that white people are the moral, political, scientific and technological standards of the human race) at play. Because the other professor was a white man, he was easy to identify as a person of authority/high intelligence, thus a person worthy of being addressed by his earned title. “The Future of Whiteness” also provides insight on whether this can be learning experience for the student. Alcoff argues that a white double consciousness is required for white people to confront the white vanguardism they perpetuate, and understand the social conditions that lead to their perpetuation to begin with. Professor Lightfoot’s confrontation of the student and explicit call to action for him to be more aware of his words could go a long