The Other Side of Empathy

In The Other Side of Empathy, Jade E. Davis contests the value of empathy as an affective or critical tool. Whether focusing on technology, colonialism, or racism, she shows how empathy can obscure relationships of dominance, control, submission, and victimization, arguing that these histories taint the whole concept of empathy. Drawing on digital archives of photographs, memoirs, newspapers, interviews, and advertisements regarding nineteenth-century ethnographic museums and human zoos, Davis shows how empathetic responses erase culpabilities from those institutions that commodify difference. She also contends that empathy's mediation through digital technology cannot lead to more ethical actions, as technology only connects representations of people rather than the people themselves. In empathy's place, Davis proposes mutual recognition as a way to see and experience others beyond colonial modes of empathy. Davis illustrates that moving beyond empathy allows for a more nuanced understanding of the colonial past and its ongoing impact while providing for a more meaningful affective engagement with the world.

Author: Jade E. Davis
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 08/04/2023
Pages: 136
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.42lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.29d
ISBN13: 9781478025016
ISBN10: 1478025018
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | African American & Black Studies
- Psychology | Emotions

About the Author
Jade E. Davis is Director of Educational Technology and Learning Management at University of Pennsylvania Library.