George Yancy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Yancy
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Born |
George Dewey Yancy
June 3, 1961 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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Education | University of Pittsburgh, Yale University, New York University, Duquesne University |
School | Continental philosophy |
Institutions | Duquesne University Emory University |
Thesis | Whiteness and the return of the "Black body" (2005) |
Doctoral advisor | Fred Evans |
Main interests
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Critical theory of race, critical whiteness studies, African American philosophy, philosophy of the body |
George Dewey Yancy (born June 3, 1961) is an American philosopher. He is a professor of philosophy at Emory University. He is also a special Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, which is a very high honor.
From 2019 to 2020, he was a special visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He helps edit a series of books called "Philosophy of Race" for Lexington Books. George Yancy is well-known for his work on understanding race and how it affects people's lives. He has written or helped edit more than 20 books. He has also published over 250 articles and interviews in journals and news sites.
Yancy has written many essays and done interviews for "The Stone," a philosophy column in The New York Times. He also writes for Truthout, a news group that reports on social justice. His work has appeared in The Guardian and The Chronicle of Higher Education. "Academic Influence" named him one of the top 10 influential philosophers between 2010 and 2020. This is because his work is often cited and widely read online. In 2024, he won the Public Philosophy Network's Leadership Award. This award honors philosophers who make important, long-term contributions to public discussions.
Contents
Education and Career
George Yancy studied at several universities. He earned his first degree in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985. He then received a master's degree in philosophy from Yale University in 1987. In 2004, he earned another master's degree in Africana studies from New York University (NYU). He completed his Ph.D. in philosophy from Duquesne University in 2005.
He started teaching at Duquesne University in 2005. He became a full professor there in just eight years. After teaching at Duquesne for ten years, he moved to Emory University in 2015.
During his studies, Yancy learned from many famous philosophers. At the University of Pittsburgh, he studied with Wilfrid Sellars and Nicholas Rescher. At Yale, he took classes with John Edwin Smith. At New York University, he studied with poet Kamau Brathwaite. He also wrote his master's thesis with Farah Griffin from Columbia University. His Ph.D. work at Duquesne University focused on race and how it relates to the body, guided by Fred Evans.
Media Appearances
George Yancy has been interviewed on many radio stations across the U.S. He has also appeared in three documentaries. These include Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (2018) and Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence (2019). In 2024, he was interviewed for the Netflix documentary Power, which is about policing in America. This film was made by Oscar-nominated producer Yance Ford.
"Dear White America" Article
In 2015, Yancy wrote an article for The New York Times' called "Dear White America." This article caused a lot of discussion. He received many hateful messages and was harassed. This experience led the American Philosophical Association to speak out against bullying. It also resulted in Yancy being added to the Professor Watchlist in 2016. This website lists college professors who are seen as anti-conservative.
Despite the negative reactions, Yancy received over 1,000 messages of support. Sixty-eight philosophers and thinkers signed a letter defending his freedom to discuss important social issues. In response to being on the Professor Watchlist, Yancy wrote another article for The New York Times titled "I am a Dangerous Professor."
Works
Books
- Open Casket: Philosophical Meditations on the Tragic Death of Emmett Till. (2025).
- Black Bodies, White Gazes, The Continuing Significance of Race in America. (Third Edition, 2025).
- In Sheep's Clothing: The Idolatry of White Christian Nationalism. (2024).
- Until Our Lungs Give Out: Conversations on Race, Justice, and the Future. (2023). This book won "Best Book (Social Sciences)" from Library Journal in 2023.
- Black Men from Behind the Veil: Ontological Interrogations. (2022).
- Across Black Spaces: Essays and Interviews from an American Philosopher. (2020).
- Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections. (2019).
- Educating For Critical Consciousness. (2019).
- Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America. (2018).
- On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis. (2017).
- Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race in America, Second Edition. (2017).
- Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk about Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes. (2016). This book was chosen as one of the top 10 diverse nonfiction titles in 2017 by Booklist.
- White Self-Criticality beyond Anti-Racism: How Does It Feel to Be a White Problem? (2015).
- Exploring Race in Predominantly White Classrooms: Scholars of Color Reflect. (2014).
- Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics. (2013).
- Look, A White! Philosophical Essays on Whiteness. (2012).
- Christology and Whiteness: What Would Jesus Do? (2012).
- Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge. (2012).
- Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop. (2011).
- The Center Must Not Hold: White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy. (2010).
- Critical Perspectives on bell hooks. (2009).
- Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race. (2008).
- Philosophy in Multiple Voices. (2007). This book won the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award in 2009.
- Narrative Identities: Psychologists Engaged in Self-Construction. (2005).
- White on White/Black on Black. (2005). This book won the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award in 2005.
- What White Looks Like: African American Philosophers on the Whiteness Question. (2004).
- The Philosophical I: Personal Reflections on Life in Philosophy. (2002).
- Cornel West: A Critical Reader. (2001).
- African-American Philosophers: 17 Conversations. (1998). This book won the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award in 1999.
Articles and Interviews by Yancy
George Yancy has written many articles and conducted interviews for The New York Times and Truthout. These works often explore important topics like race, justice, and society. Here are some examples:
- (with Muhammad Ali Khalidi), "'Striking Hard at Civilians': A Supremacist Ideology Underlies Israeli Policy." (March 24, 2025).
- (with Norman Solomon), "How Should We Rethink Our Relationship to US Violence Around the World?" (March 18, 2025).
- (with Farah Jasmine Griffin), "Black History Testifies to the Impossible Creative Power of Black Resistance." (February 23, 2025).
- (with John H. McClendon), "Frederick Douglass’s Words Ring True: 'Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand.'” (February 15, 2025).
- (with Amber Musser), "Remember What Audre Lorde Told Us: The Oppressor Doesn't Determine What's True." (February 8, 2025).
- (with Tim Golden), "Why the Right IS Wrong About Critical Race Theory." (February 1, 2025).
- (with Cornel West), "Cornel West: We Must Keep Our Souls Intact as We Organize Under Trump Again." (December 1, 2024).
- (with Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson), "Abolition Work Shows US There's Joy to Be Found Even as the Word Is on Fire." (November 19, 2024).
- (with Nurit Peled-Elhanan), "How Does Israel Justify Mass Killings? It Starts in the Schools." (September 15, 2024).
- (with Zahi Zallous), "What Can the Black Freedom Struggle and Palestinian Liberation Teach Each Other?" (September 8, 2024).
- (with Yasmeen Daher), "The Violent 'Othering' of Palestinians Has Political Roots." (September 1, 2024).
- (with Dilek Huseyinzadegan), "Kant's Ideas Shaped Human Rights Theories. How do we Content with His Racism?" (July 6, 2024).
- (with E. Hughes), "Juneteenth Reminds US That 'Black Freedom' Is an Ongoing Project." (June 19, 2024).
- (with Alexandra Aladham), "Palestinian Graduate: Protestors Show Courage for Gaza as leaders Show Cowardice." (June 9, 2024).
- (with Judith Butler), "Universities Have Failed Their Democratic Mission by Repressing Gaza Protests." (May 10, 2024).
- (with Jeanine Weeks Schroer), "This Black History Month, Let's Recognize the Vitality of Black Feminist Thought." (February 27, 2024).
- (with A. Todd Franklin), “Honoring Emmett Till Means Never Looking Away From the Horror of White Supremacy.” (February 26, 2024).
- (with Molefi Kete Asante), "What is it About Black History that Frightens the Hell Out of the Far Right?" (February 24, 2024).
- (with E. Anthony Muhammad), "Black Existentialism Brings Philosophy to Bear on Our White Supremacist World." (February 21, 2024).
- (with Teresa Blankmeyer Burke), "What Can Deaf Philosophy Teach the World and How Will it Change it?" (February 11, 2024).
- (with Josiah Ulysses Young III), "MLK Was a Philosopher of Hope. He Reminds US That Apathy Is a Dead End." (January 15, 2024).
- (with Drew Leder), "How Can Philosophy Speak to a World in Crisis? The Answer May Lie in Our Bodies." (January 7, 2024).
- (with Tim Wise), "Clinging to Whiteness Offers False Safety: True Liberation Requires Unending It." (December 25, 2023).
- (with Michael Sawyer), "What Would Malcolm X Say About Gaza and Black resistance in the US Today?" (December 23, 2023).
- (with Judith Butler), "Judith Butler: Palestinians Are Not Being 'Regarded as People' by Israel and US." (October 31, 2023).
- (with Dorothy Roberts), "Dorothy Roberts Lays Out a Damning Expose of Medical Racism and 'Child Welfare.'" (September 17, 2023).
- (with H. A. Nethery), "White Supremacy and 'White Innocence' Were Behind the Killings in Jacksonville." (September 8, 2023).
- (with Liat Ben-Moshe), "Institutions Often Treat Disability and Mental Health Not With Care But Violence." (June 15, 2023).
- (with Joe Feagin), "How Can We Resist Book Bans? This Banned Author Has Ideas." (May 18, 2023).
- (with Idil Abdillahi), "Jordan Neely Is Being Blamed for His Own Death Due to Sanism and Racism." (May 5, 2023).
- (with Subini Annamma), "Let's Confront Ideas of 'Normality' -- They Are Rooted in Racism and Ableism." (April 11, 2023).
- (with Laurence Ralph), "Policing Does Not Have Problems -- It is the Problem." (April 8, 2023).
- (with Talila A. Lewis), "Incarceration and Ableism Go Hand in Hand, Says Abolitionist Talila Lewis." (January 8, 2023).
- (with Talila A. Lewis), "Ableism Enables All Forms of Inequity and Hampers All Liberation Efforts." (January 3, 2023).
- "Let's Honor Kevin Johnson by Dismantling the Systems that Failed Him," (December 3, 2022).
- (with Christine Wieseler), "The 'Problem' Isn't Disabled Bodies, It's the Violent Structure of Our Society." (October 11, 2022).
- (with Joel Michael Reynolds), "Ableism Organizes Most Social Life. How Do We Dismantle It?" (September 25, 2022).
- (with Frank B. Wilderson III), "Afropessimism Forces US to Rethink Our Most Basic Assumptions About Society," (September 14, 2022).
- "Innocent White People Are Also Complicit in the Anti-Black Murders in Buffalo," (May 17, 2022).
- (with Robin D. G. Kelley). "Robin Kelley: White Indifference Is Normalizing Spectacular Acts of Violence," (May 5, 2022).
- "If the State of the World Makes You Want to Scream, You're Not Alone," (April 11, 2022).
- (with Adele Norris), "Anti-Black Racism IS Global. So Must Be the Movement to End It," (March 14, 2022).
- "Death Surrounds US: We Cannot Ignore Its Reality, or Its Mystery," (February 5, 2022).
- "Death Is for the Living." (The New York Times, physical copy). (Tuesday, January 4, 2022, A16).
- "What I learned About Death From 7 Religious Scholars, 1 Atheist and My Father," (January 2, 2022).
- "bell hooks, We Will Always Rage On With You," (December 21, 2021).
- "George Floyd Isn't in the Headlines, But Trauma Continues for Black Men Like Me," (November 9, 2021).
- "No, Black People Can't Be 'Racist,'" (October 20, 2021).
- (with Mark Lewis Taylor). "Christianity IS Empty If It Doesn't Address the Racist Carceral State," (September 26, 2021).
- (with Brian Burkhart). "US Founders Demonized Indigenous People While Coopting Their Political Practices," (August 15, 2021).
- (with Akwugo Emejulu). "Black Feminist 'Back Talk' Anchors Resistance on Both Sides of the Atlantic," (July 17, 2021).
- (with Kelly Brown Douglas). "Black Womanist Theology Offers Hope in the Face of White Supremacy," (June 19, 2021).
- (with Robin D.G. Kelley). "The Tulsa Race Massacre Went Way Beyond "Black Wall Street"", (June 1, 2021).
- (with David Roediger). "It's Time for 'Whiteness as Usual' to End: How do we overcome the death wish of white supremacy?", (May 23, 2021).
- (with Noam Chomsky). "Chomsky: Big Pharma Cares More About Profiting From COVID Than Human Survival", (May 10, 2021).
- (with Noam Chomsky). "Chomsky: Protests Unleashed by Murder of George Floyd Exceed All in US History", (May 7, 2021).
- "Being 'Anti-Racist' Isn't Enough. The Violence of Whiteness Itself Must Be Exposed", (April 5, 2021).
- (with Chelsea Watego). "'I Can't Breathe' Is a Cry Well Known to Black Indigenous People in Australia", (March 24, 2021).
- (with Susannah Heschel). "White Supremacist Christianity Drives Trump's Loyal Mob. We Must Scream It Down", (March 12, 2021).
- (with Cornel West). "Cornel West: The Whiteness of Harvard and Wall Street IS 'Jim Crow, New Style'", (March 5, 2021).
- (with Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor). "White Journalists' Use of the N-Word IS an Intolerable Assault on Black Freedom", (February 27, 2021).
- (with Jacob Kehinde Olupona). "Death Has Many Names", (February 14, 2021).
- (with Peniel E. Joseph). "The Capitol Siege Was White Supremacy in Action. Trial Evidence Confirms that", (February 13, 2021).
- (with Pedro A. Noguera). "Education Will Be Critical in the Fight for Democracy and Anti-Racism", (February 5, 2021).
- (with Joy James). "Reaching Beyond 'Black Faces in High Places' : An Interview with Joy James", (February 1, 2021).
- "Let's Not Lose Ourselves in Euphoria Over Trump's Exit. Anti-Blackness Persists", (January 25, 2021).
- (with David Kyuman Kim). "We Have to Let White Supremacy Die in Order to Truly Live", (January 17, 2021).
- (with Eric Foner). "Capitol Mob Reveals Ongoing Refusal to Accept Black Votes as Legitimate", (January 12, 2021).
- (with Che Gossett), "Black Trans Feminist Thought Can Set Us Free", (December 9, 2020).
- (with Leor Halevi). "Of Death and Consequences", (December 8, 2020).
- (with Mari Matsuda). "Trump Is Attacking Critical Race Theory Because it is a Force for Liberation", (November 18, 2020).
- (with Eduardo Mendieta). "Trump's Lying About COVD Amounts to Treason", (November 1, 2020).
- (with Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting). "Founded on Inequality, Can the US Ever Be Truly Democratic and Inclusive?" (October 31, 2020).
- (with Todd May). "How Should an Atheist Think About Death?", (October 20, 2020).
- (with Brook Ziporyn). "How to Die (Without Trying)", (September 16, 2020).
- (with Pankaj Jain). "Don't Fear Dying. Fear Violence", (July 29, 2020).
- (with Woojin Lim). "George Yancy: To Be Black in the US is to Have a Knee Against Your Neck Each Day", (July 18, 2020).
- (with Joe Feagin). "Confronting Prejudice Isn't Enough. We Must Eradicate the White Racial Frame", (June 30, 2020).
- (with Todd May). "Policing Is Doing What It Was Meant To Do. That's the Problem", (June 21, 2020).
- (with Noam Chomsky). "Noam Chomsky: Trump Has Adopted a 'Viva Death!' Approach to the Presidency", (June 5, 2020).
- (with Karen Teel). "I believe that I Would See Her Again", (May 20, 2020).
- "Ahmaud Arbery and the Ghosts of Lynchings Past", (May 12, 2020).
- (with Judith Butler). "Judith Butler: Mourning Is a Political Act Amid the Pandemic and Its Disparities", (April 30, 2020).
- (with Moulie Vidas). "What Judaism Teaches Us About the Fear of Death", (March 26, 2020).
- (with Geshe Dadul Namgyal). "How Does a Buddhist Monk Face Death?", (February 26, 2020).
- "Facing the Fact of My Death", (February 3, 2020).
- "Dear God, Are You There?", (August 7, 2019).
- (with Judith Butler). "When Killing Women Isn't a Crime", (July 10, 2019).
- (with Cornel West). "Power Is Everywhere, but Love Is Supreme", (May 29, 2019).
- "Why White People Need Blackface", (March 4, 2019).
- "#IAm Sexist", (October 24, 2018).
- (with Anita L. Allen). "The Pain and Promise of Black Women in Philosophy", (June 18, 2018).
- "Should I Give Up on White People?", (April 16, 2018).
- (with Drucilla Cornell) "James Bond is a Wimp", (February 26, 2018).
- "Will America Choose King's Dream or Trump's Nightmare?", (January 15, 2018).
- (with David Kyuman Kim). "An Open Letter of Love to Kim Jong-un", (November 13, 2017).
- (with Noam Chomsky) "On Trump and the State Of the Union", (July 5, 2017).
- "Is Your God Dead?", (June 19, 2017).
- "It's Black History Month. Look in the Mirror", (February 9, 2017).
- "I am a Dangerous Professor", (November 30, 2016).
- (with Brad Evans) "The Perils of being a Black Philosopher", (April 18, 2016).
- "Dear White America", (December 24, 2015).
- (with bell hooks) "Buddhism, the Beats and Loving Blackness", (December 10, 2015).
- (with Seyla Benhabib) "Whom Does Philosophy Speak?", (October 9, 2015).
- (with David Kim) "The Invisible Asian", (October 8, 2015).
- (with Paul Gilroy) "What 'Black Lives' Means in Britain", (October 1, 2015).
- (with Cornel West) "Cornel West: The Fire of a New Generation", (August 19, 2015).
- (with Joe Feagin) "American Racism in the 'White Frame'", (July 27, 2015).
- (with John D. Caputo) "Looking 'White' in the Face", (July 2, 2015).
- (with Peter Singer) "Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rights", (May 27, 2015).
- (with Molefi Kete Asante) "Molefi Kete Asante: Why Afrocentricity?", (April 6, 2015).
- (with Anthony Appiah). "Kwame Anthony Appiah: The Complexities of Black Folk", (April 16, 2015).
- (with Emily Lee) "Asian, American, Woman, Philosopher", (April 6, 2015).
- (with Noam Chomsky) "Noam Chomsky on the Roots of American Racism", (March 18, 2015).
- (with Falguni A. Sheth). "How Liberalism and Racism are Wed", (February 27, 2015).
- (With Linda Alcoff), "Philosophy's Lost Body and Soul", (February 4, 2015).
- (With Judith Butler). "What's Wrong With 'All Lives Matter?'", (January 12, 2015).
- (with Joy James). "Black Lives: Between Grief and Action", (December 22, 2014).
- (with Shannon Sullivan). "White Anxiety and the Futility of Black Hope", (December 5, 2014).
- (with Charles Mills). "Lost in Rawlsland"), (November 16, 2014).
- (with Naomi Zack). "What 'White Privilege' really means", (November 5, 2014).
- "Walking While Black in the White Gaze'", (September 1, 2013).
See also
- Hypatia transracialism controversy