# Professor Lewis Gordon, 'On Afro-Jewish Philosophy' ![Poster](/sites/g/files/omnuum10831/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2026-02/BlackAndJewish31226.jpg?itok=c_VNo_nH) #### calendar\_today Date and Time **March 12, 2026** 04:00PM - 06:00PM EDT #### pin\_drop Location **The Hiphop Archive & Research Institute** [104 Mount Auburn Street Floor 2R Cambridge, MA 02138 United States ]() ![Poster](/sites/g/files/omnuum10831/files/2026-02/BlackAndJewish31226.jpg) This talk, which is in effect a metaphilosophical talk about Afro-Jewish philosophy, will be in three parts. The first, as it is at the intersection of questions raised by the emergence of an African Jewish Diaspora and challenges posed by the emergence of racialized blackness, will examine fallacies the speaker has often encountered in studies and thoughts on Black Jews. The second, building on the first, will outline specifically philosophical questions raised by Afro-Jewish Philosophy. The third could be called an exploration of Afro-Jewish-Sankofism, in that some precious elements of Afro-Jewish philosophy will be brought into conversation with humanity’s contemporary efforts of moving forward or maturing. [Lewis R. Gordon](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__philosophy.uconn.edu_person_lewis-2Dgordon_&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=JEKORkEV96RBtJsQbQ5e9x6ywVvSfK3bUp64gLK1ZVo&m=y9_dWJ9wzHmpE7UxOa3pFpdlU2J8nBZbx3VEPXujxQ1_vKPwZsfqABb76CSTNkaY&s=v24NhtYE793sPYsAdyRWmjRvg3qRCrcapnBUjcYemx8&e=) is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Global Affairs and Head of the Philosophy Department with an affiliation in Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Asian Studies in Social and Critical Inquiry. He also is Honorary President of the Global Center for Advanced Studies and Distinguished Scholar at The Most Honourable PJ Patterson Centre for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. His previous appointments include Honorary Professor in the Unit for the Humanities at Rhodes University in South Africa, where he was formerly the Nelson Mandela Distinguished Visiting Chair in Political and International Studies; the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy at Temple University, where he also founded and directed the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies and the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought; and Professor and the founding Chair of Africana Studies at Brown University. He is the author of many books, such as, more recently, [*Freedom, Justice, and Decolonization*](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.routledge.com_Freedom-2DJustice-2Dand-2DDecolonization_Gordon_p_book_9780367632465&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=JEKORkEV96RBtJsQbQ5e9x6ywVvSfK3bUp64gLK1ZVo&m=y9_dWJ9wzHmpE7UxOa3pFpdlU2J8nBZbx3VEPXujxQ1_vKPwZsfqABb76CSTNkaY&s=MZAty39EN4x52tvvvOVc4XfZ1aSoGSRLE0bXo37XR-M&e=) (Routledge, 2021); [*Fear of Black Consciousness*](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__us.macmillan.com_books_9780374159023&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=JEKORkEV96RBtJsQbQ5e9x6ywVvSfK3bUp64gLK1ZVo&m=y9_dWJ9wzHmpE7UxOa3pFpdlU2J8nBZbx3VEPXujxQ1_vKPwZsfqABb76CSTNkaY&s=kxZOKZ5SySMlrvy68qnlXvpfDMjRYe_JTtIl-5uKksU&e=) (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022); [*Black Existentialism and Decolonizing Knowledge: Writings of Lewis R. Gordon*](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.bloomsbury.com_us_black-2Dexistentialism-2Dand-2Ddecolonizing-2Dknowledge-2D9781350343795_&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=JEKORkEV96RBtJsQbQ5e9x6ywVvSfK3bUp64gLK1ZVo&m=y9_dWJ9wzHmpE7UxOa3pFpdlU2J8nBZbx3VEPXujxQ1_vKPwZsfqABb76CSTNkaY&s=ec_GeOtW06ugzwXIhiIg3EuEVXcOG_wIlqh47F8gFSs&e=) (Bloomsbury, 2023); and the Thirtieth Anniversary Edition of his first book [*Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism*](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.bloomsbury.com_us_bad-2Dfaith-2Dand-2Dantiblack-2Dracism-2D9798765161500_&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=JEKORkEV96RBtJsQbQ5e9x6ywVvSfK3bUp64gLK1ZVo&m=y9_dWJ9wzHmpE7UxOa3pFpdlU2J8nBZbx3VEPXujxQ1_vKPwZsfqABb76CSTNkaY&s=VvlJ0RXGc-b2xgwifJ9tBjoEnp42xKeeAhx42bLACUk&e=) (Humanity Classics/Bloomsbury, 2025), which features a foreword by Mabogo P. More and Afterwords by Jacqueline Martinez and Paget Henry. The year 2025 also marked the thirtieth anniversary of his second book, [*Fanon and the Crisis of European Man*](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.routledge.com_Fanon-2Dand-2Dthe-2DCrisis-2Dof-2DEuropean-2DMan-2DAn-2DEssay-2Don-2DPhilosophy-2Dand-2Dthe-2DHuman-2DSciences_Gordon_p_book_9780415914154-3Fsrsltid-3DAfmBOopig3SJK8wqmqLvY5PcWx-5F2RvNfYgjq9bHfqpSCW136V70vvv2j&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=JEKORkEV96RBtJsQbQ5e9x6ywVvSfK3bUp64gLK1ZVo&m=y9_dWJ9wzHmpE7UxOa3pFpdlU2J8nBZbx3VEPXujxQ1_vKPwZsfqABb76CSTNkaY&s=Xp1hpxCvJc6JBIDU7Nv8BT_uuy-cjrt__rMptg2eNjQ&e=) (Routledge), whose second edition, with commentary from an international group of scholars, will be published in 2026. Gordon’s accolades include the 2022 Eminent Scholar Award from the International Studies Association and Elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts in 2024. Co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies and the [Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research](https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/), Harvard University [ Learn More About the 2025-2026 Fellows and their Projects arrow\_circle\_right ](https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/current-fellows) [ Watch Livestreams and Past Colloquia on YouTube arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.youtube.com/hutchinscenter) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#) Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/node/1639411/event-feed.ics) Copy link link