Effortful Agon

Philosophy can provide ways to inform the fight against racism and create healthier racialized identities. The lens of “effortful agon” is a fruitful approach. The arguments of Friedrich Nietzsche can be used to propose a type of healthier racialized identity formation for both people of color and whites. The goal is a Nietzschean, healthy, life affirmation that emerges out of self-knowledge and mastery as an ongoing project. This project requires the willingness to engage in racialized experiments (Versuchen) that require conscious effort and discomfort of the sort that will be a challenge for most whites.