Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

Not to be confused with Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò ([o.lú.fɛ́.mi tá.í.wò]; born 1990)^[1] is an American philosopher and professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.^[2][3] He is the author of two books: Reconsidering Reparations and Elite Capture.^[3] Grist.org has described him as "one of America’s most prominent philosophers" and "the most vocal philosopher working on issues related to climate change".^[3] Táíwò regularly contributes articles to publications such as The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy, in addition to academic journals.^[3]

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Born	1990 (age 33–34)
Academic background
Education	Indiana University
Alma mater	University of California at Los Angeles
Academic work
Institutions	Georgetown University

Early life and education

Born in 1990, Táíwò lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the first year of his life, before moving with his family to Cincinnati, Ohio, where there was a large Nigerian community.^[1] His parents had both immigrated from Nigeria in the early 1980s to attend graduate school in the United States.^[1] His mother worked in pharmacology at Proctor & Gamble, while his father was an engineer who stayed at home to take care of his brother, who is autistic.^[1]

Táíwò earned his BA in philosophy from Indiana University and his PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles.^[4]

Career

Táíwò first gained widespread notice with an essay published in 2020 in The Philosopher on the "limitations of 'epistemic deference'".^[5] In the essay, he argued that amplifying certain voices, including his own, on the basis of group membership in what is perceived as a marginalized community, did not necessarily solve fundamental problems and could impede formation of authentic relationships.^[5] His book Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics and Everything Else builds on this piece, as well as a related essay which appeared in Boston Review.^[5]

His theoretical work is heavily influenced by the Black radical tradition, contemporary philosophy of language, materialist thought, social science, German transcendental philosophy, activist histories, and activist thinkers. His most recent book Elite Capture examines how elites have appropriated radical critiques of racial capitalism to further their own agendas.^[4]

Critical reception

In a review for Race & Class, Franklin Obeng-Odoom calls Reconsidering Reparations "brilliant" despite "some serious faux pas".^[6] Praising Táíwò for his "vigorous" and "serious" examination of time and space, Obeng-Odoom writes, "By building on his insightful critique of Rawlsian approaches to reparations, his powerful reconstruction of reparations and emphasis on how we need to take the remaking of the future into account in reconsidering reparations, it is possible to move past the shoots to the roots of ecological imperialism."^[6]

Writing in the academic journal Mind, Megan Blomfeld positions Táíwò as an "accessible writer and skilled storyteller" whose work was pitched at a general audience.^[7] She notes that Táíwò devotes only 20 pages to a review of the philosophical literature on reparations – most likely not enough to dissuade proponents of other views.^[7]

Books

• Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O. (2022). Reconsidering Reparations. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-750891-6.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}
• Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O. (2022). Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else). Haymarket Books. ISBN 978-1-64259-735-6.^{[1][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}

Further reading

• Elite Capture: Philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics. "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics". 18 January 2023 On Democracy Now!.
• Constructing Solidarity: An Interview with Olúfemi O. Táíwò "Constructing Solidarity: An Interview with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò". 22 April 2022. Ritika Ramamurthy, Nonprofit Quarterly.

References

1. Cheney-Rice, Zak (May 11, 2022). "What's Wrong With Identity Politics?". Intelligencer. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
2. "Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò Will Join the Department as an Assistant Professor". Department of Philosophy. March 9, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
3. Thomason, John (June 21, 2022). "Olúfémi O. Táíwò's theory of everything". Grist. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
4. "Assistant Professor Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Georgetown University" (staff profile). Department of Philosophy, Georgetown University.
5. Tuhus-Dubrow, Rebecca (May 27, 2022). "On the Uses and Abuses of Identity Politics". Chronicle of Higher Education. 68 (19) – via EBSCOHost.
6. Obeng-Odoom, Franklin (January–March 2023). "[Review] Reconsidering Reparations By Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò". Race & Class. 64 (3). doi:10.1177/03063968221142214 – via EBSCOHost.
7. Blomfeld, Megan (October 2022). "[Review] Reconsidering Reparations, by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò". Mind. 131 (524): 1321–1330. doi:10.1093/mind/fzac055.
8. Philo, Kaila (February 4, 2022). "City Lights: Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò Reconsiders Reparations". Washington City Paper. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
9. McCarthy, Joe (May 3, 2022). "Why Are Reparations Essential for Climate Justice?". Global Citizen. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
10. Moellendorf, Darrel (September 27, 2022). "Review of Reconsidering Reparations". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. ISSN 1538-1617. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
11. Lambrecht, Felix (October 1, 2022). "Táíwò, Olúfẹmi O. Reconsidering Reparations . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. 280. $33.99 (cloth)". Ethics. 133 (1): 156–161. doi:10.1086/720780.
12. Nuti, Alasia (November 12, 2022). "Reconsidering Reparations". The Philosophical Quarterly. 73 (3): 884–887. doi:10.1093/pq/pqac067.
13. Sriprakash, Arathi (March 4, 2023). "Reconsidering Reparations: By Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. Pp 280. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2022. £22.99 (Hardback). ISBN: 9780197508893". British Journal of Educational Studies. 71 (2): 233–234. doi:10.1080/00071005.2022.2135277.
14. Lennard, Natasha (July–August 2022). "Future Perfect". Bookforum.
15. Ashmore, Fred (January 5, 2023). "Reconsidering Reparations, by Olúfẹmi O Táíwò". The Friend. The Friend Publications Ltd. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
16. Schwartz, Claire (May 3, 2022). "Assuming the Perspective of the Ancestor". Jewish Currents. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
17. Oduor, John-Baptiste (May 27, 2022). "Did Elites Really Take Over Identity Politics?". Jacobin. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
18. Abdel-Magied, Yassmin (October 20, 2022). "A room of our own". Australian Book Review (November 2022, no. 448).
19. Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta (September 21, 2022). "The Defeat of Identity Politics". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
20. O'Connel, Laurie (January 25, 2023). "Review: 'Elite Capture' – A fruitless attempt to save identity politics from itself". Socialist Appeal. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
21. Mehri, Momtaza (June 16, 2022). "How the Elite Captured Identity Politics". ArtReview. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
22. Hilinski, Hunter (2023). "Review of Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else) by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press)". Lateral. 12 (1). doi:10.25158/L12.1.XX (inactive April 8, 2024). ISSN 2469-4053. Retrieved May 22, 2023.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2024 (link)
23. Que, Carol (September 5, 2022). "The Sea That We Swim In". Sydney Review of Books. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
24. Bellum, P. (July 7, 2022). "Elite Capture: the Right Book at the Right Time". Rampant Magazine. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
25. Raisifard, Takin (September 20, 2022). "Book review: Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)". European Journal of Social Theory. doi:10.1177/13684310221125712.
26. Whittaker, Nicholas (October 18, 2022). "Elite Capture". The Point Magazine. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
27. Loewer, Milan Kende (May 14, 2022). "The Outlines of a Theory of Power: A Review of Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò's Elite Capture". Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism. Retrieved May 22, 2023.

External links

 

Wikiquote has quotations related to Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò.

• Personal website
• Twitter page