Resilience and the Brown Babe’s Burden

Tracy Llanera is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut, USA. She is author of Richard Rorty: Outgrowing Modern Nihilism (2020) and co-author of A Defence of Nihilism (2021). Llanera works at the intersection of social and political philosophy, philosophy of religion, feminist philosophy, and pragmatism, specializing on the topics of nihilism, extremism, conversion, and the politics of language. She is a core member of Women Doing Philosophy, a global feminist organization of Filipina philosophers.

“How can brown female scholars thrive in academic institutions that are designed to make us feel out of place? Resilience and the Brown Babe's Burden is a gift not only to Filipinas doing philosophy but to all scholars who feel diminished by White, heterosexist academia but remain undaunted in refusing to accept the status quo. With beautifully curated chapters, this book sends a simple but powerful message – the established order is not immutable. Each chapter weaves diverse narratives of frustration into a collective story of resilience, indignation, and aspiration. Described as a “labor of love,” this book is an invitation to build courageous alliances that resist and subvert racism, misogyny, and epistemic injustices in all their guises.”Nicole Curato, Professor of Political Sociology and author of Democracy in a Time of Misery: From Spectacular Tragedy to Deliberative Action“Whether intended or not, the concept of “resilience” has sometimes come out as a patronizing reference to a community’s capacity to survive and flourish even in the most distressful and oppressive circumstances. It also often implies an unquestioning acceptance of the prevailing social framework. This impressive book, the collective work of Filipino women doing philosophy, rescues the term from this usage as a backhanded compliment by specifying the conditions in which it may be deployed and understood as an affirming nod to a redeeming virtue. The richness of this sustained effort is a tribute to the deconstructive powers of the amazing group of Filipina philosophers behind this project.”Randolf David, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of the Philippines“In Resilience and the Brown Babe's Burden, Professor Tracy Llanera has put together a remarkable collection of essays that map out the landscape where resilience, gender, race, philosophy, and global crises intersect. The main themes of the anthology have certainly been underexplored in academic philosophy and they very much deserve urgent and careful attention. The double-edged nature of resilience, for instance, consists of both a recognition of one's ability to thrive in the face of challenges and a potential point of exploitation by those who have much to gain from a compliant and overworked demographic. The lessons of Resilience and the Brown Babe's Burden go far beyond the focus on Filipina philosophers; they force us to rethink how social institutions and environs sculpt and characterize who we are, often much to our detriment. In a world where historic legacies and existing institutions and attitudes inescapably affect how we think of ourselves and each other, Professor Llanera's anthology is a critical read in our quest to live more authentic and freer lives. Brown philosophers have it rough and their experience and wisdom are invaluable.”Dien Ho, Director of the Center for Health Humanities and Professor of Philosophy and Healthcare Ethics, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health“Resilience and the Brown Babe’s Burden is an important meditation on the meaning of resilience and the conditions that demand it from oppressed and marginalized people--in philosophy and the world at large. It exemplifies the way culturally situated reflection, and reflection from within conditions of coloniality, can generate distinctive insights about ideas that shape all of our lives. If there is a way to wrest resilience discourse from the hands of neoliberalism, this book opens up new paths to imagining how. If there is not, this book invites us to think about how to resist, endure, and even thrive.”Serene Khader, Jay Newman Chair in Philosophy of Culture at Brooklyn College, Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, and author of Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic“Resilience and the Brown Babe’s Burden is an important contribution that both widens our visions of philosophers and philosophical questions while exploring a pressing theme in regard to subjectivity. The book addresses a pervasive theme during the Covid 19 pandemic of resilience, through a focus on the women who dominantly grappled with the theme—Filipina women. This collection of essays begins with theoretical clarifications of the ambivalent term, and importantly contributes to understanding this prescient theme in culture, in institutions of higher education, and in academic philosophy. The book’s insightful analysis illuminates an intimate theme that both motivates and entraps how one lives daily life. I so appreciate this collection for troubling the theme of resilience especially as it is lived by women of color.”Emily S. Lee, Professor of Philosophy, California State University, Fullerton and author of A Phenomenology for Women of Color: Merleau-Ponty and Identity-in-Difference

• 1 The Burden of Resilience: An Introduction PART 1: Theorizing Resilience 2 Resilience as a Normative Ideal: Towards an Ethics of Resilience Discourse 3 Resilience or Resistance? Investigating Resilience and Resistance as Strategies Against Workers’ Oppression 4 Uncoupling Resilience from Violence: The Grit Model vs. The Social Connection Model of Resilience 5 Resilient Resistance and Resistant Knowledge Projects: Subtracting Resilience from Neoliberalism PART 2: Resilience and the Global Pandemic 6 Should Teachers be Resilient? Emergency Remote Teaching in Pandemic Times 7 Emotions and Filipino Resilience 8 Bayanihan and Community Pantries: Redefining Filipino Resilience in the COVID-19 Pandemic PART 3: Filipino Practices of Resilience 9 Unpacking Political Resilience: Feminist Conversations on Rape and Rape Culture 10 Time’s Up Ateneo: Moving from Institutional Complicity to Courageous Institutional Resilience in the Face of Sexual Violence 11 PhotoKwento: Co-constructing Women’s Narratives of Disaster Recovery PART 4: Resilience and Philosophy 12 Can Brown Women be First-rate Philosophers? 13 Three Brown Babe’s Complaints: Institutional Discrimination, Western Feminists, and First World Leftists