Enlightenment ideas and today’s racial fears by Professor Tommy J. Curry

Tue May 12 2026 at 05:30 pm to 06:30 pm UTC+01:00

Curtis Auditorium | Newcastle upon Tyne

INSIGHTS Public Lectures at Newcastle University
Publisher/HostINSIGHTS Public Lectures at Newcastle University
Enlightenment ideas and today\u2019s racial fears by Professor Tommy J. Curry
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The ‘other’ man: Enlightenment ideas and today’s racial fears by Professor Tommy J. Curry
About this Event

This talk explores an overlooked aspect of Britain’s conversations about racism: how Enlightenment thinkers portrayed Black and other non-white men as threats to white society. Figures like James Cowles Prichard and Samuel A. Cartwright used early racial ‘science’ to depict non-white men as dangerous and needing control. These ideas cast them as the ultimate ‘other,’ imagined as risks to social order and property. By tracing these roots, the talk reveals how these stereotypes still influence British politics today and fuel modern racial hostility.


Biography: Professor Tommy J. Curry, University of Edinburgh

Tommy J. Curry is a Professor of Philosophy and holds the Personal Chair of Africana Philosophy and Black Male Studies at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests are 19th century ethnology, Critical Race Theory & Black Male Studies. He is the author of The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood (Temple University Press 2017), which won the 2018 American Book Award, and Another white Man’s Burden: Josiah Royce’s Quest for a Philosophy of Racial Empire (SUNY Press 2018), which recently won the Josiah Royce Prize for American Idealist Thought. He has also re-published the forgotten philosophical works of William Ferris as The Philosophical Treatise of William H. Ferris: Selected Readings from The African Abroad or, His Evolution in Western Civilization (Rowman & Littlefield 2016). In 2019 he became the editor of the first book series dedicated to the study of Black males entitled Black Male Studies: A Series Exploring the Paradoxes of Racially Subjugated Males on Temple University Press. Dr. Curry’s research has been recognized by Diverse as placing him among the Top 15 Emerging Scholars in the United States in 2018, and his public intellectual work earned him the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy’s Alain Locke Award in 2017. He is the past president of Philosophy Born of Struggle, one of the oldest Black philosophy organizations in the United States.
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Ticket Information

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  • This event will be held in the Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building at Newcastle University (NE1 7RU).
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Venue Details and Accessibility

  • The Herschel Building is located a 3-minute walk from Haymarket Metro Station and Bus Station, and is easily accessible by Public Transport.
  • The Curtis Auditorium is a tiered lecture theatre and has 8 designated spaces for wheelchair users, with flat-level access. There is also a hearing loop system and an accessible toilet nearby.
  • Please note any access requirements on your booking form.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

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