Subject, humanity and raciality: towards a radical refusal of modern categories in the thought of Denise Ferreira da Silva

Abstract

Denise Ferreira's thinking is important for analyzing issues such as subjects, raciality, racism and prejudice, among others. This is in order to: i) identify their root causes; ii) rethink these problems based on new “postulates”. These investigations will start with the following question: why aren't we still plunging ourselves into a deep ethical crisis when we see standardized and recurring scenarios of violence directed at specific, “racialized” groups? In this article, we will briefly present the author's analysis and criticism of the categories of “subject”, ‘humanity’ and “raciality”. To do this, we will use two postulates, namely provocation and radicalism, in order to develop the hypothesis of this research: the idea that the use of new investigative elements is capable of re-interpreting principles that were once affirmed. It is hoped that this article will demonstrate this aim, both in its attempt to offer an understanding of his thought in accessible language and through its dialogues and criticisms.