This course investigates white supremacy through aesthetics, or the philosophy of embodied knowledge. We approach white supremacy not only as an ideology or system but an aesthetic environment that shapes, as Sara Ahmed writes, which bodies get to “be at home.”We ask how white supremacy represents itself and engages in aesthetic world-making across Enlightenment ethico-political accounts of the“sublime”and “beautiful,” historical imaginaries, and media regimes past and present. Engaging Black thought; intersectional approaches to racialized experience, and a diverse array of cinematic works, built environments, and visual art, we will discuss and devise critical creative practices for disempowering and unmaking white supremacist futures.
