desegregating the community of inquiry in philosophy for / with children
a dialogue on racism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/childphilo.2026.96051Keywords:
philosophy for/with children (P4/wC), community of inquiry, racism, white supremacy, nonideal theoryAbstract
This dialogical article examines persistent challenges in engaging racism, colonialism, and white supremacy within the theory and practice of Philosophy for/with Children (P4/wC). Framed as a mutual interview between two long-standing colleagues, the dialogue revisits formative encounters in the P4/wC community and situates them within broader intellectual traditions, including American pragmatism, deliberative democracy, and Africana philosophy. Drawing on personal experience, archival material, and critical scholarship, the authors interrogate the metaphilosophical assumptions underpinning the “community of inquiry,” particularly its commitments to reasonableness, consensus, and democratic dialogue. Concepts such as the “gated community of inquiry,” white ignorance, nonideal theory, and insurrectionist ethics are mobilized to illuminate how norms of reasonableness can function as mechanisms of exclusion. Rather than abandoning dialogue, the authors explore the possibilities for reconstructing the community of inquiry in light of nonideal realities, positioning it as a site not only of deliberation but of critical transformation.
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