The Other

This article postulates the concepts of subjective violence and objective violence in constructing the revolutionary others in The Slave (1964), the ideological play by Amiri Baraka (1934-2004), also known as LeRoi Jones. The blacks are identified as the others in the white dominant societies, and the inconvenience of their livings under no effective ‘Civil Rights’ has faded their legitimated targets. They have detached themselves from their origins and experienced numerous troubles in the dominant imperialist world. Jones’ The Slave focuses on the revolt of a black man against the whites’ subjective and objective violence. The paper has centralized Jones’ concepts of black art and identity related to American ‘Social Movements’. Baraka’s The Slave revolutionarily fights back the whites’ violence. To develop the purpose of this study, Žižek’s concept of violence and his psycho-ideological impacts through the lens of Lacan are to be analyzed. The Slave indicates the centrality of a black massive movement toward the achievement of self-rule, self-confidence, self-reliance, and self-realization. LeRoi Jones, as the leader of the ‘Black Arts Movement’ and founder of ‘Black Power’ of the 1960s, attempts to re-define and support blacks’ literature, art, and culture as the operational mission.

Since time immemorial, due to its metaphysically grounded perspective, western philosophy has not been able to detach itself from the egoistic outlook, and thus, the interaction with the "other” had no role in this philosophy. The world has always been interpreted from the perspective of "self" ignoring the "other". Reviewing this mode of thought from Ancient Greece to Modern Age, one can reveal a kind of repression and forgetfulness of "alterity" and difference which Levinas has well highlighted in his philosophy. The very foundation of this egoism can be traced back to the Socratic slogan "know yourself”. In the same spirit, a kind of self-centered moral philosophy has been developed, the clear example of which is Kant's ethics. In line with Hegelian tradition of recognition, contemporary thinkers have redefined ethics and politics and acknowledged the constitutional dependence of the “self” on the "other." Based on the coordinates of their thought as well as the historical condition of their own time in the formation of subjectivity, these thinkers have criticized the neglect of the “other”. Hegel's role in underlining the importance of the vital status of the “other” is unique. Hegel bridges all post-Hegelian currents on the concept of “Other”. Then, in the present essay, we seek to show that since Hegel’s time up to Derrida, we have been witness to the rise of “Other” and the fall of “Self”.