Replay: Myisha Cherry shares Five Things She's Learned about The Social Uses of Anger
Check out the first five minutes of her recent class.
“One of the things we know about emotions, particularly anger, is that it communicates things. It has a commutative function… One of the most important audiences or at least subjects when it comes to the content of that communication, is it is communicating something about the lives that have been mistreated.“
– Myisha Cherry, Five Things I've Learned about The Social Uses of Anger
Myisha Cherry is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. Her research interest lies at the intersection of moral psychology and social and political philosophy. Her recent book, The Case for Rage: Why Anger is Essential to Anti-Racist Struggle makes a case for anger at racial injustice. Here’s the first five minutes of Myisha’s recent 90-minute class in which she shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the essential roles that rage and anger play in public life – and in our principled responses to all forms of social injustice.
Five Things I’ve Learned about the Social Uses of Anger is hosted by Nicholas Buccola, and is part of Nick’s four-part series, Five Things I’ve Learned about the Power of the Word, which in addition to this session features conversations with David Blight, Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr, and Roosevelt Montás. In this session, Myisha draws on her deep understanding of emotions and her acclaimed work on anger, challenging common misconceptions about anger’s value in our social and political spheres. Her class offers profound insights into the power of the written word and explores how anger can serve as a necessary and morally praiseworthy response in certain contexts.
Ready to reconsider anger and its uses for individuals and societies? This class is for you.
Myisha’s books include The Moral Psychology of Anger co-edited with Owen Flanagan and Unmuted: Conversations on Prejudice, Oppression, and Social Justice. Her recent book, The Case for Rage, was recently featured in the New Yorker and The Atlantic. It has received a starred review from Publishers’ Weekly. After a 10-way auction, Princeton University Press won North American rights to her book The Failures of Forgiveness. It is slated for a Spring 2023 release. Cherry has also written about emotions and race in such journals as Hypatia, Radical Philosophy Review, and Critical Philosophy of Race.
In addition to her academic work, she has written publicly about political emotions, race, and justice for the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, Salon, The Boston Review, New Philosopher, WomanKind, and the Huffington Post. Cherry is also the host of the UnMute Podcast, a podcast where she interviews philosophers about the social and political issues of our day.
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