Somaesthetics and the Somatic Experience of White Privilege

Abstract

Recent work in the Critical Philosophy of Race and Critical Whiteness Studies repeatedly calls for new ways of living and being as white. Yet these calls can be frustratingly vague and abstract, lacking practical guidance. When it comes to how to transform whiteness without merely perpetuating white privilege, key questions and challenges remain. This chapter builds on recent work developing the social and political significance of somaesthetics to examine a site of particular resistance to change: the somatic experience of white privilege. The central claim is that the experience of white privilege can be usefully approached as a somatic social practice. This pragmatic framing has several benefits. First, it directs us to the performative somatic normativity embodied in the experience of white privilege. Second, it establishes the link between the somatic and the social-specifically, how bodily habits not only sustain, but also are the chief focus of ethical norms. Third, it pinpoints the most productive site for developing counterperformative habits and practices, namely, new ways of living and being as white.