Term Paper on "Danielle Allen Talking to Strangers"

Term Paper 10 pages (2787 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Danielle Allen: Talking to Strangers.

Danielle Allen's Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education

The civil society has often constituted a subject of great interest for scholars and practitioners. While some works focus on the role the individual plays within the society, others reveal the role society plays in the formation of the individual. Then, the topics become even more detailed and include matters such as the role of educational institutions and programs within the civil society or domestic violence. The findings of each study are mainly differentiated by the approach taken by the author - traditional or modern approach. This difference is obvious is most sociological studies.

The literature in the field is rather extensive and the opinions and findings on the subject are different, sometimes even conflicting. And not only do they counter argue each other, these statements also come to change the traditional approaches of the civil society. The most relevant example in this sense is Danielle Allen's Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education.

Sociologists often state that the individual is the results of social interactions and through a particularization then, it could be said that the writing of one individual may easily be generated by the individual's personal experiences and thoughts. Therefore, it would be relevant to take a closer look at the background of the book's author. Then, the paper will offer a brief summary of the entire book, to continue by answering several questions relating to Danielle Allen's approaches and opinions relative to traditional habits, the need to replace them with new ones and the expected outcome of such an endeavour.

2. Danielle Allen

Danielle Allen's resume is quite an impressive one - in 1996, she got her PhD in Classics from the Cambridge University and three years later, she got a PhD in Government from the Harvard University. She became an assistant professor and then a full university professor and taught subjects on both classic languages and literature, as well as politics. She began her teaching career at the University of Chicago in 1997, and between 2002 and 2007 she occupied the position of Dean of Division of Humanities. In 2007, Allen, was offered the position of UPS Founding Professor at the School for Social Sciences, the Institute for Advanced Study. She occupies that position in the present (the Institute for Advanced Study, 2008).

As her specializations reveal, the focus of Danielle Allen has been on politics and classics. She wrote pieces on both subjects and her contributions were significant to the fields. What is most relevant is her dual and combined approach of the issues. Otherwise put, Allen has strived to connect her two specialities and has looked at one through the lens of the other.

She applied the same approach relative to society in the meaning that she looked for historical features which could be applied today. And the community has recognized her merits. In 2002 for instance, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship "for her ability to combine the classicist's careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist's sophisticated and informed engagement" (the Institute for Advanced Study, 2008). "Her intellectual scope spans the fields of the classics, philosophy and political theory. Allen's work contributes new perspectives to discussions of race and politics that go beyond the confines of traditional and canonical scholarship" (John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University, 2005)

She wrote numerous articles in specialized journals and held several lectures, but she is most renowned for her two books: The World of Prometheus: the politics of punishing in democratic Athens and Talking to Strangers: anxieties of citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education.

3. Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education

Talking to Strangers was published in 2004 by the University of Chicago Press. The 232-page book is organized into three chapters, each with its subchapters as follows:

Part One: Loss - 1. Little Rock, a New Beginning; 2. Old Myths and New Epiphanies; 3. Sacrifice, a Democratic Fact; 4. Sacrifice and Citizenship

Part Two: Why We Have Bad Habits - 5. Imperfect Democracy; 6. Imperfect People; 7. Imperfect Pearls / Imperfect Ideas

Part Three: New Democratic Vistas - 8. Beyond Invisible Citizens; 9. Brotherhood, Love and Political Friendship, 10. Rhetoric, a Good Thing; 11. Epilogue

The main thesis of the book is that in order for the society to properly function, we must cast out the traditional and old habits, and replace them with newer ones, more adapted to the requirements of the contemporaneous society. The title of the book says much in this direction as the idiom talking to strangers comes to replace the saying of all parents across the globe: do not talk to strangers.

Allen observes the situation in Little Rock, the mistrust between races and individuals in general, which forced parents to advice their children not to talk to strangers. The analysis is based on a photograph dating back from 1957, presenting young Elizabeth Eckford being cursed by Hazel Bryan when she was enrolling for the first day of school; the picture was taken during the racial segregation of Central High School in Little Rock.

Source: Allen, 2004

The author presents a series of comments on the racial tensions at that time, as well as the social and political implications of these tensions. The photograph represented a moment of political importance for the races, and several political, social and emotional strains became obvious at the time. "Through a series of epiphany-like revelations about the fundamental meaning of the interracial encounters and tensions described, she leads us analytically from the notion of sacrifice through reciprocity and mutual trust to "political friendship" as an accessible ideal for American relationships" (Morris, 2006).

In this part of the book, Allen reveals the construction of the American society throughout 1954 up to 1965, during the civil rights movement. However, she believes that from that point on, not much has changed for the better and that distrust has further increased. Therefore, she believes it is time for new changes in our society. "We have fresh aspirations and reformed institutions but not yet new forms of citizenship" (Allen, 2004).

Then, she suggests that instead of distrust, the members of the civil society should act based on a "citizenship of political friendship" (Allen, 2004). She recognizes that society has yet to reach such a level, and she proposes a series of courses of action in this direction. These suggestions are based on both personal insight, as well as information retrieved from other writings on philosophy, sociology and politics.

The key element in all suggestions is sacrifice. Individual sacrifice within a society will help increase the trust in the members of the community; parents will no longer advice children not to talk to strangers and a model of political friendship will be implemented. Ultimately, Danielle Allen presents several solutions which would help the contemporaneous civil society achieve meaningful and trustworthy relationships, within a model of democratic citizenry.

4. Critique of the Book

Danielle Allen-based much of her work unto the direct observation of our society, but also on historical works of other scholars. In the first chapter for instance, she presents the situation of African-American student, being cursed by a white colleague. While the situation is tragic and presents a moment of political tension, there is not much that can be said or done to correct that moment. However, the author believes that it is important to recognize the historical importance of past events, consider them, learn from them and implement the new knowledge to help today's civil society.

In an interview about the book, Allen stated: "The best we can do now to honor the losses then endured is to recover their history, understand their consequences, and develop more democratic methods of determining community development policies. To begin acknowledging the ordinary, everyday sacrifices of their fellows, citizens must recognize that no plan, no policy, no proposal -- even those held dearest -- is without cost to someone. Not all such costs will count as sacrifices, but many do, and we need to see them if we are to understand the basis of our social stability" (Interview with Danielle Allen, 2004)

Ultimately then, Allen uses a historical approach in the meaning that she analyzes various past situations and the theoretical approaches of those situations. Some examples of how the UPS Founding Professor historicizes the need to break out the old habits and replace them with new ones refer to her approach to the visions of Aristotle, Plato, Martin Luther King, Jurgen Habermas or Thomas Hobbes.

The author of Talking to Strangers draws much on the models of citizenships in antiquity. As it has been stated before, her suggestions are often based on the writings of other scholars and practitioners. The most significant source of material for Danielle Allen is Greek philosopher Aristotle. She also draws on the secondary texts written by other… READ MORE

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