Craving Freedom: Lessons from Black Fugitivity Thinkers

• In Event: Dangerous Desires: Dreams of Otherness

Abstract

Aesthetic cravings for a new world or for harmony between oneself and the world are often considered to be dangerous when satisfaction is sought outside of art. George Kateb has characterized these cravings as those that motivate action while simultaneously subordinating morality to the gratification of aesthetic desires. Utopian visions and the aesthetic cravings to make such visions concrete reality have been indicted by many as the motivational factor behind twentieth century fascism. And yet, the vision of an ideal democracy with racial egalitarianism at its foundations might also be said to have induced a craving in Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells and other African American intellectuals and activists that motivated persistent action against overwhelming odds. How ought we to think about the craving for freedom and equality? Are some cravings more legitimate than others? This paper revisits the concept of aesthetic craving and re-examines its relationship to morality in the context of popular sovereignty.

Author

• Michelle Rose, Brown University