Episode 55: Constructing New Rooms with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

In this episode, Johanna and Nathan have the pleasure of talking to philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò about racial capitalism, elite capture, epistemic deference, and sport. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University and author of a boatload of crucial scholarly and public interventions, including recent work in Boston Review, Dissent, Foreign Policy, Aeon, The Nation, The Appeal and on and on. He is also working on a book entitled Reconsidering Reparations that considers a novel philosophical argument for reparations and explores links with environmental justice.

The conversation takes us through Olúfẹ́mi's interventions of the past year and how they help us think through issues of politics, justice, and labor in the context of elite sport. We begin with an overview of racial capitalism as a theoretical framework and its application to the summer strikes in the world of basketball. From there we move to elite capture and how capitalism and its elites relentlessly appropriate struggles around identity, focusing on the saga of Colin Kaepernick. Finally, we turn to his brilliant recent article in The Philosopher to unpack the pitfalls of epistemic deference and how a more constructivist approach to standpoint epistemology might help us conceive more just futures in the realm of high-performance sport.

We cannot recommend that you check out Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò's interventions of the past year more strongly. They are accessible and exceptionally thought-provoking. Check out his piece on elite capture in Boston Review here. Check out his piece on security in racial capitalism in Aeon here. Check out his co-authored case for climate reparations in Foreign Policy here. Whatever you do, definitely check out his masterpiece in The Philosopher on standpoint epistemology and epistemic deference here. You can also listen to a wonderful discussion he has with Daniel Denvir on The Dig unpacking the epistemic deference piece here.

You can follow Olúfẹ́mi on Twitter @OlufemiOTaiwo!

 

For a transcription of this episode, please click here. (Updated semi-regularly Credit @punkademic)

Show Producer: Tristan Loper

After listening to the episode, check out our most recent pieces:

“College Football Feels All Too Normal During the Pandemic” in TIME Magazine

“College Football in a Pandemic Reveals our Capacity for Trumpism” in The Baffler

“Red-Scare Rhetoric Isn’t Gone From Histories of American Sport” in Jacobin Magazine

"Canceling the College-Football Season Isn't Enough" published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“'We are being gaslit': College football and Covid-19 are imperiling athletes” in The Guardian

“Canceling the college football season is about union busting, not health” also in The Guardian

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@Nkalamb

@EndofSportPod

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