Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education: Danielle S. Allen: 9780226014678: Amazon.com: Books

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"Don't talk to strangers" is the advice long given to children by parents of all classes and races. Today it has blossomed into a fundamental precept of civic education, reflecting interracial distrust, personal and political alienation, and a profound suspicion of others. In this powerful and eloquent essay, Danielle Allen, a 2002 MacArthur Fellow, takes this maxim back to Little Rock, rooting out the seeds of distrust to replace them with "a citizenship of political friendship."

Returning to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 and to the famous photograph of Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, being cursed by fellow "citizen" Hazel Bryan, Allen argues that we have yet to complete the transition to political friendship that this moment offered. By combining brief readings of philosophers and political theorists with personal reflections on race politics in Chicago, Allen proposes strikingly practical techniques of citizenship. These tools of political friendship, Allen contends, can help us become more trustworthy to others and overcome the fossilized distrust among us.

Sacrifice is the key concept that bridges citizenship and trust, according to Allen. She uncovers the ordinary, daily sacrifices citizens make to keep democracy working—and offers methods for recognizing and reciprocating those sacrifices. Trenchant, incisive, and ultimately hopeful, Talking to Strangers is nothing less than a manifesto for a revitalized democratic citizenry.

Print length

232 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Chicago Press
Publication date

November 1, 2006
Dimensions

8.2 x 5.9 x 0.55 inches
ISBN-10

0226014673
ISBN-13

978-0226014678
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Anthony P Spanakos

Aristotelian read on Citizenship in Democracies

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2012

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In this book, Allen argues that `talking to strangers' is one of the most fundamental aspects and responsibilities of democratic citizenship. Drawing on Aristotle and Ralph Ellison (with some commentary on Habermas and plenty of criticism of Hobbes), Allen aims to show that citizenship needs to address issues of distrust and she focuses on interracial distrust in the US as her main case study. She argues that there was essentially a change in the constitution (politeia) of the United States following Brown v. the Board of Education (as there had been other constitutional changes in the history of the US). She focuses on the sacrifice of Elizabeth Eckford, the young black student who had sewn a black and white dress for her first day of school in an all-white school, the same one who is in a famous photo in which she is prevented from going to school by a disapproving white crowd. Both she and the white protestors, Allen argues, were engaged in citizenship practices- but they were very different ones (one a dominant one, one marked by suffering). This leads to a discussion of Ellison (and Arendt) on the nature of sacrifice and invisible citizens. She argues for habits of citizens in conjunction with institutions. The book is implicitly and explicitly Aristotelian and she writes a considerable amount about Philia (fellowship). Allen argues that the idea of `oneness' (instead of `wholeness') derived from Hobbes- via- Kant, is responsible for many problems (constrains minority rights, etc). She sees, within Aristotle, Ellison and others, a plurality which allows for a practice of fellowship that is vital to democratic life, a kind of fellowship that is established by talking to strangers.

16 people found this helpful

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Lord Voldemort

Imperfect, but worth reading.

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2013

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Professor Allen's chief objective in this book is to present readers with a solution to the problem of inter-citizen discord within a political community, and specifically within the American regime. Drawing upon the Aristotelian conception of the word "constitution" (politeia) as that which determines the arrangement of political power and offices, Allen identifies the mid-twentieth century civil rights era as a significant yet unresolved moment of re-constitution in American history. Despite the passage of certain laws intended to impose legal equality on all Americans, the question of race relations continues to flare up in the midst of periodic racial conflagrations that inevitably pit white Americans against black Americans. (The 2012 Martin-Zimmerman incident in Florida is a recent example.) Yet, regardless of America's peculiar history with the institution of slavery, Allen blames the present-day tensions on a "collective biography" of philosophic principles traceable to Thomas Hobbes and his preoccupation with obtaining "oneness," as opposed to "wholeness," within the political community. This concern for oneness, she says, drives us toward the unachievable and dangerous goal of unanimity, a goal that is incompatible with a pluralistic society and which impels us to erase intrasocietal differences through an unjust system of domination and acquiescence.

Allen's solution to this problem is what she calls "political friendship," an idea she derives from a collective analysis of Aristotle's Politics, Nicomachean Ethics, and Rhetoric. Friendship itself is a substitute for justice, in particular, the sort of inflexible justice commanded by strict logic. But friendship manages to secure peace and order while simultaneously generating trust or goodwill in a way that justice alone cannot. In so doing, friendship enables people with different backgrounds and interests to reach mutually agreeable compromises by not perceiving the relationship as a zero-sum contest. For Aristotle, the closest friendship is the one in which both friends see each other as second selves. In a similar way, although Allen does not expect such a pure friendship to be possible among millions in a vast political community, she nonetheless encourages us to perceive our fellow citizens - including those who are strangers to us - in the light of friendship, e.g., by asking ourselves, "Would I treat a friend this way?"

Overall, Allen's book is intelligible and engaging, but I was left unpersuaded that she had actually discovered the - or even a - solution to the problems she identifies. This is not to say that attempting to cultivate something akin to political friendship is a bad idea. To be sure, civic friendship may be both beneficial and obtainable in smaller civic communities. But it is far from clear how Allen's friendship-through-rhetoric strategy can be successfully applied and sustained at the national level. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle warned that the bonds of friendship wear thin when stretched across great distances or after the passage of too much time without contact. James Madison, of course, held no great hope for appealing strictly to man's better nature, and so exploited the nation's great landmass by encouraging competing factions to act as counterweights to each other. Using Allen's strategy, can the citizens of Tempe, Arizona, ever really become friends with the citizens of Brunswick, Maine? Perhaps social media and the Internet can help to bridge some gaps (I'm skeptical), but regardless, Allen does not address these technologies. Moreover, it is unclear how Allen intends to mollify the minority that inevitably exists in the wake of any democratic contest. Frequently, and despite what I am sure are her good intentions, her suggestions sound patronizing or belittling: in not so many words, all that is needed, apparently, is the right combination of soothing bromides and all will be well. But she offers nothing beyond this vaguely expressed rhetorical salve.

Like her solution, Allen's book is smoothly delivered. For those interested in expanding their library on politics and citizenship theory, it is worth reading and owning. But those with a critical eye will find it to be more gloss than substance.

17 people found this helpful

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Ron McFarland

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2021

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The book reminded me, do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels and thats beautiful.

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karen cathers

tedious, poorly written

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2021

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miserable academic writing

One person found this helpful

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Deborah Meier

Timely and Insightful

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2009

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It's an important; best read and discussed with a friend. Don't miss this if you are concerned about the state of democracy, schooling, or our climate of civility. Deborah Meier

10 people found this helpful

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Irami Osei-Frimpong

Legislating good citizenship is ticklish business.

Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2008

Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education concerns the importance of trust and vulnerability in a functional democracy, and how these two qualities manifest in the extra-legal customary habits of citizenship.

The author, Danielle Allen, takes a fifty year old iconic picture, the picture of young black Elizabeth Eckford being shouted down by a angry white mob as she entered Central High School in 1957 Arkansas, as the point of departure for her treatment of the extra-legal habits of citizenship. Allen's point was that though this picture was taken five years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the difference between the changing of a law and the changing of the attitudes of a people is strikingly important.

Allen's main argument is that we need to rethink the importance of our political habits of speech and friendship, and think carefully about how casual we are with the losing side of any political debate. The "winner-take-all" mentality is antithetical to the virtues of democracy, and breeds anger and resentment that's not easily or rightfully assuaged. If nothing else, the book got me to realize the importance of saying, "Hello" to people on the street.

10 people found this helpful

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