‘We will march side by side and demand a bigger table’: anger as dignity claim

Abstract

<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="CIT0026">Martha Nussbaum’s (2016)</xref> account of anger limits its utility in part due to its vengeful and narcissistic aspects; she notes that even when anger rightfully identifies a harm or unjust act, it too frequently represents a desire for retribution or status degradation of the offender. I think this viewpoint is incomplete, because it reduces human relations and status to a zero-sum tussle: I can only gain status if you (at least theoretically) lose it. While Nussbaum does not explore a connection between human dignity and anger, I argue that feminist political uses of anger are often premised on exactly this sort of idea. To be specific, the use of dignity that is present in feminist political anger is not of the zero-sum variety (women gain status through men’s loss of status), but as a claim of worth. Feminist political anger argues that women count too, and women deserve dignity and respect: first, as a kind of personal or bodily dignity, and second as an assertion of political identity or autonomy. It is the absence of their dignity and recognition that is the injury; their rage is an assertion of presence, a demand for dignity and recognition. This demand does not require the lessening of another’s dignity.

Developing political compassion through narrative imagination in human rights education

“…Compassion has been viewed as selective and unreliable (Arendt, 1963(Arendt, /2016) and too passive an affect to create persistent commitment and to motivate protest against injustice (Berlant, 2004;Pedwell, 2014;Weber, 2018), whereas negative emotions with a sense of outrage often function as crucial mobilising forces, especially in minority struggles (Adkins, 2020;Bell 2009;Cherry 2019;Srinivasan, 2018). Ann-Kathrin Weber (2018), following Hannah Arendt's political theory, warns us of the self-deceptive magic of feeling compassion (p. 57).…”

The unproductiveness of political conflict in education: A Nussbaumian alternative to agonistic citizenship education

“…Moreover, the desirability of eradicating negative emotions (especially anger) from politics has been questioned from the perspective of minority struggles (e.g. Adkins, 2020;Bell, 2009;Cherry, 2019;Srinivasan, 2018). 6 In this article, our purpose is not to provide a detailed account of how political emotions should be fostered from Nussbaum's perspective.…”