Jamaican philosopher (1951–2021)
Charles Wade Mills (January 3, 1951 – September 20, 2021) was a Jamaican philosopher who was a professor at
Graduate Center, CUNY , and
Northwestern University . Born in London, Mills grew up in Jamaica and later became a United States citizen. He was educated at the
University of the West Indies and the
University of Toronto .
Early life and education
Charles Wade Mills was born on January 3, 1951, in London, England, to Winnifred and
Gladstone Mills .
[1]
[2] His parents were graduate students in London and moved to
Kingston, Jamaica , shortly after he was born.
[3] He grew up in Kingston.
[4]
[5]
Mills received a BSc in physics at the
University of the West Indies in 1971 and an MA and PhD in philosophy from the
University of Toronto in 1976 and 1985, respectively.
[6] His dissertation was titled The Concept of Ideology in the Thought of Marx and Engels .
[7] He endorsed
historical materialism until the 1990s.
[8] While at the University of Toronto, Mills helped to unionize
teaching assistants .
[5]
Academic career
Mills taught physics in Kingston from 1971 to 1973 at the
College of Arts, Science and Technology , and from 1976 to 1977 at
Campion College ; he later taught philosophy at the
University of Oklahoma (1987–90) and the
University of Illinois at Chicago (1990–2007) where he was a UIC Distinguished Professor.
[6]
Mills was John Evans Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at
Northwestern University , before his appointment as Distinguished Professor at
Graduate Center, CUNY , in August 2016.
[9]
[10]
[11] He was elected a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.
[12] He gave the
Tanner Lectures on Human Values in 2020.
[13]
Views
Over his career, Mills published six books and over 100 articles.
[13]
Shannon Sullivan argues that Mills's oeuvre can be understood through the concept of smadditizin , a word Mills used in the title of a 1997 article. Sullivan, quoting Mills, describes smadditizin as "the struggle to have one's personhood recognized " [emphasis in original]. She argues that, no matter whether he embraced
Marxism , Black radicalism, or racial liberalism, Mills's work opposed the non-recognition of persons.
[14] According to an obituary in
CBC News , Mills is regarded as a pioneer in
critical race theory and the philosophy of
race .
[5] Philosopher Christopher Lebron described him in
The Nation as a "black
Socrates ".
[3]
Mills's book
The Racial Contract (1997) won a
Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for the study of bigotry and human rights in North America.
[15] The Racial Contract posits that the
social contract is really a contract based on the notion of white domination.
[3] According to
Jamelle Bouie , the work argues that "classic contractarian theories", such as those proposed by "
Thomas Hobbes ,
John Locke ,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau , and
Immanuel Kant ", "were built on an assumption of white racial domination, a racial contract, so to speak".
[16]
Later in his career, according to
Tommie Shelby , Mills launched a sustained critique of
John Rawls 's
contractarian theory of justice. Shelby notes that Mills rejected the Rawlsian turn to
ideal theory in political philosophy in favor of an approach that takes careful account of the realities of oppression.
[17] Despite his critique of Rawls, however, Mills came to endorse a version of liberalism in Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism , suggesting that the history of liberalism reveals the dismantling of social hierarchies.
[18] Reviewing Black Rights/White Wrongs in
Political Theory , Ainsley LeSure observes that "[t]hough [Mills] acknowledges that racial justice need not be realized through the liberal tradition, he affirms that it can."
[19]
Personal life
Mills has been described as "Afro-Caribbean",
[20] "Caribbean",
[21]
[22] and "Jamaican".
[23] He described himself as "Caribbean-American".
[24]
In a 2014 publication, Mills stated, "I was a citizen of a small Third World country, Jamaica, which owed its very existence to … oppressive international forces."
[25] As of October 2020
[update] , Mills was an American citizen.
[4]
Mills was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in May 2021.
[5] He died of cancer in
Evanston, Illinois , on September 20, 2021.
[1]
Books
Mills, Charles W. (January 27, 2014) [1997].
The Racial Contract .
Cornell University Press .
doi :
10.7591/9780801471353 .
ISBN
978-0-8014-7135-3 .
JSTOR
10.7591/j.ctt5hh1wj .
S2CID
153842070 .
[26]
[27]
[28]
Mills, Charles W. (December 18, 2015) [1998]. Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race . Cornell University Press.
doi :
10.7591/9781501702952 .
ISBN
978-1-5017-0295-2 .
JSTOR
10.7591/j.ctt1tm7j79 .
[29]
From Class to Race: Essays in White Marxism and Black Radicalism .
Rowman & Littlefield . 2003.
ISBN
0-7425-1301-7 .
OCLC
52216116 .
[30]
[31]
Mills, Charles W.; Sample, Ruth J.; Sterba, James P., eds. (2004). Philosophy: The Big Questions .
Blackwell .
ISBN
1-4051-0828-2 .
OCLC
52386246 .
Mills, Charles W.;
Pateman, Carole (2013). The Contract and Domination .
Polity .
ISBN
978-0-7456-3621-4 .
OCLC
843202341 .
[32]
Radical Theory, Caribbean Reality: Race, Class and Social Domination .
University of the West Indies Press . 2010.
ISBN
978-1-4619-0675-9 .
OCLC
759207752 .
[33]
Mills, Charles W. (May 25, 2017). Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism .
Oxford University Press .
doi :
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190245412.001.0001 .
ISBN
978-0-19-024541-2 .
[18]
[19]
[34]
References
^
a
b Risen, Clay (September 27, 2021).
"Charles W. Mills, Philosopher of Race and Liberalism, Dies at 70" .
The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved September 27, 2021 .
^
Herdeck, Donald (1979). Herdeck, Donald E. (ed.). Caribbean writers : a bio-bibliographical-critical encyclopedia . Three Continents Press. pp.
146–147 .
ISBN
0-914478-74-5 .
OCLC
5223510 .
^
a
b
c Smith, Harrison (October 1, 2021).
"Charles W. Mills, incisive philosopher of liberalism and race, dies at 70" .
The Washington Post .
ISSN
0190-8286 . Retrieved October 15, 2021 .
^
a
b Lim, Woojin (October 29, 2020).
" 'The Racial Contract': Interview with Philosopher Charles W. Mills" .
Harvard Political Review .
Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2021 .
^
a
b
c
d Raza, Ali (October 10, 2021).
"Toronto-educated philosopher and critical race theory pioneer Charles W. Mills dies at 70" .
CBC News . Retrieved October 15, 2021 .
^
a
b
"Charles W. Mills (Curriculum vitae)" .
Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021 .
^
"Search - Theses Canada" .
Library and Archives Canada . March 8, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2021 .
^ Loggins, Jared (September 24, 2021).
"The House That Charles Built" .
Dissent .
Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021 .
^
"Mills from Northwestern to CUNY Graduate Center" . Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog . November 16, 2015.
Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2021 .
^
"Professor Charles Mills to Join Graduate Center Philosophy Program" .
Graduate Center, CUNY . November 28, 2015.
Archived from the original on January 4, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2021 .
^
"Charles W. Mills" .
Graduate Center, CUNY .
Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021 .
^
"Charles W. Mills" .
American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021 .
^
a
b Táíwò, Olúfémi O. (September 27, 2021).
"The Radical Generosity of Charles Mills" .
The Nation .
ISSN
0027-8378 . Retrieved September 27, 2021 .
^
Sullivan, Shannon (2017). "Smadditizin' Across the Years: Race and Class in the Work of Charles Mills".
Critical Philosophy of Race . 5 (1): 1–18.
doi :
10.5325/critphilrace.5.1.0001 .
S2CID
114705576 .
^ Roberts, Neil (April 3, 2017).
"The Critique of Racial Liberalism: An Interview with Charles W. Mills" . AAIHS .
Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021 .
^
Bouie, Jamelle (September 25, 2021).
"The World Lost a Great Philosopher This Week" .
The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved September 25, 2021 .
^
Shelby, Tommie (2013). "Racial Realities and Corrective Justice". Critical Philosophy of Race . 1 (2): 145–162.
doi :
10.5325/critphilrace.1.2.0145 .
^
a
b Hughey, Matthew W. (February 19, 2018). "Four thoughts on Charles Mills – Black rights/white wrongs: the critique of racial liberalism".
Ethnic and Racial Studies . 41 (3): 523–531.
doi :
10.1080/01419870.2018.1389967 .
ISSN
0141-9870 .
S2CID
148904929 .
^
a
b LeSure, Ainsley (October 2018).
Political Theory . 46 (5): 801–805.
doi :
10.1177/0090591717750345 .
ISSN
0090-5917 .
S2CID
149215821 . {{
cite journal }}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (
link )
^ Ferguson, Stephen C. (January 10, 2017). "Exploring the Matter of Race". In
Zack, Naomi (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race . Vol. 1.
Oxford University Press . p. 265.
doi :
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190236953.013.56 .
^ Rabaka, Reiland (2011).
Hip Hop's Inheritance: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Hip Hop Feminist Movement .
Lexington Books . p. 45.
ISBN
978-0-7391-6480-8 .
^ Murphy, Philip (August 1, 2018).
The Empire's New Clothes: The Myth of the Commonwealth .
Oxford University Press . p. 120.
ISBN
978-0-19-093478-1 .
^ Gordon, Jane Anna (March 5, 2020). "Mapping Afro-Caribbean Political Thought". In Jenco, Leigh K.; Idris, Murad; Thomas, Megan C. (eds.).
The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Political Theory .
Oxford University Press . p. 148.
doi :
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190253752.013.25 .
ISBN
978-0-19-025375-2 . Retrieved October 4, 2021 .
^ Mills, Charles W. (2009). "Rousseau, the Master's Tools, and Anti-Contractarian Contractarianism". The CLR James Journal . 15 (1): 92–112.
doi :
10.5840/clrjames20091515 .
ISSN
2167-4256 .
JSTOR
26770019 .
^ Anievas, Alexander; Manchanda, Nivi; Shilliam, Robbie, eds. (October 30, 2014). "Unwriting and unwhitening the world". Race and Racism in International Relations .
Routledge . p. 203.
doi :
10.4324/9781315857299-20 .
ISBN
978-1-315-85729-9 .
^ Cohen, Philip N. (June 1999).
Review of Radical Political Economics . 31 (2): 102–105.
doi :
10.1177/048661349903100208 .
ISSN
0486-6134 .
S2CID
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^ Ahmed, Sara (1999).
Women's Philosophy Review . 21 (21): 63–66.
doi :
10.5840/wpr1999219 .
ISSN
1369-4324 . {{
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^ Valls, Andrew (September 1998).
American Political Science Review . 92 (3): 691–692.
doi :
10.2307/2585505 .
ISSN
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JSTOR
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S2CID
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^ Harris, Leonard (January 2000).
Ethics . 110 (2): 432–434.
doi :
10.1086/233284 .
ISSN
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S2CID
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^ de Allen, Gertrude James Gonzalez (2005).
Philosophia Africana . 8 (1): 83–86.
ISSN
1539-8250 .
JSTOR
10.5325/philafri.8.1.0083 . {{
cite journal }}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (
link )
^
Shelby, Tommie (September 2004).
"From Class to Race: Essays in White Marxism and Black Radicalism" . Perspectives on Politics . 2 (3).
doi :
10.1017/S1537592704320372 .
ISSN
1537-5927 .
S2CID
141786277 .
Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021 .
^ Bonner, Frank (January 2009).
Gender and Education . 21 (1): 120–122.
doi :
10.1080/09540250802580877 .
ISSN
0954-0253 .
S2CID
145408041 . {{
cite journal }}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (
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^ Thame, Maziki (2011).
Social and Economic Studies . 60 (3/4): 221–225.
ISSN
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JSTOR
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^
Winant, Howard (February 19, 2018). "Charles Mills for and against liberalism".
Ethnic and Racial Studies . 41 (3): 551–556.
doi :
10.1080/01419870.2018.1389969 .
ISSN
0141-9870 .
S2CID
149033335 .
Further reading
External links
International National Academics Other