Cynical Futurities: A Critical Methodological Intervention Toward a Cynical Geography

In this dissertation, I disentangle the Cynical figure – one who is capable of confronting structures of power by speaking truth to power – within a Westernized, Euro-centric discourse that authorizes the Cynic as an exceptionally powerful political subjectivity. Heeding the words of Sylvia Wynter, "…the Jester's role in the pursuit of human knowledge alternates with the Priest's role—transforming heresies into new orthodoxies, the contingent into modes of the Absolute." I recover the Cynic, once sutured to a distinctly Foucauldian discursive tradition to argue Black and Brown women function as contemporary Cynics using largely a Black Feminist theoretical framework. Drawing on biomythographies written by Black and Brown women, I future a Cynical discursive tradition in which the cynic is known by a different name.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought

Department dc:contributor.department

Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Ramnath, Leah A.

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Gill, Bikrum Singh
• Baldwin, Andrea N.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Gitre, Carmen Mary Khair
• Singh, Balbir K.
• Caraccioli, Mauro J.

• Truth-telling
• Parrhesia
• Cynicism
• Black Feminist Thought
• Sylvia Wynter

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:40117

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/118989