1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778060203321

Autore

Allen Danielle S. <1971->

Titolo

Talking to strangers [[electronic resource] ] : anxieties of citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education / / Danielle S. Allen

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, c2004

ISBN

1-282-23935-X

9786612239359

0-226-01468-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (255 p.)

Disciplina

305.896/073

Soggetti

Political participation - United States

Cultural pluralism - United States

Civil society - United States

Trust - United States

Intergroup relations - United States

United States Race relations

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Loss -- Little Rock, a new beginning -- Old myths and new epiphanies -- Sacrifice, a democratic fact -- Sacrifice and citizenship -- Why we have bad habits -- Imperfect democracy -- Imperfect people -- Imperfect pearls/imperfect ideals -- New democratic vistas -- Beyond invisible citizens -- Brotherhood, love, and political friendship -- Rhetoric, a good thing -- Epilogue: powerful citizens.

Sommario/riassunto

"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.