Arendt's Understanding of Education in Dark Times: An Exploration of her Perception on Black Americans

Abstract

This paper examines Hannah Arendt's conception of education during periods of societal crisis, with a particular focus on her simplistic perspective of the experience of Black Americans during the Little Rock Crisis. It is in her article on that crisis that her sense of education in dark time appears to expose some of the limitations of her viewpoint. This paper analyzes Arendts view on that crisis and what her overall idea of education in dark times means as well as how it can be deepened. In doing so, this paper juxtaposes her thoughts on the role of education during "dark times" with the Black American experience, through the eyes of people like Ralph Ellison. Arendt's philosophy on totalitarianism, the human condition, and crisis in education provides a foundation for the analysis, but so too does the meaning of being Black in America and the need to assert ones identity.

Keywords: Arendt, Education, Black Americans, Dark Times, Totalitarianism, Human Condition

Introduction

Hannah Arendt was a commentator on the nature of power, authority, and totalitarianism throughout her career as a political theorist. Her insights on these areas indeed shaped contemporary understanding of political crises and influenced discourse in political theory as well as other fields, such as education and pedagogy (Biesta, 2010). However, her views on education with respect to the black experience in particular betray a lack of understandingor, better, a simplistic view of the black experience. Understanding the Little Rock Crisis is not merely a matter of understanding education; it is ultimately a matter of understanding the black experience (Warren, 1965). This paper explains why that is and how it can be used to deepen and extend Arendts views on education. Despite her compelling analysis of education in "dark times," Arendt's limited perspective on Black Americans leads to her failure to provide a comprehensive consideration of the intersection of race and education, underscoring the need for a more nuanced analysis of her works.

Arendt's Ideas on Power, Authority, and the Political Realm

Arendt maintains an unambiguous perspective about education's purpose during periods she terms "dark times," where societal order seems to crumble under political, social, or ideological crises (Veck & Gunter, 2020). However, her perspective focuses more on the politics of power. It is less concerned with the movement of a people. That is where its limitations arise. To understand that, it is first helpful to understand what power and authority mean to Arendt.

Power, according to Arendt (1970), is never the property of an individual. Instead, it belongs to a group and remains in existence only as long as the group keeps together. It relates directly to the capacity to act in concert. The concept of authority is described as an unproblematic necessity within a community. Authority ensures that society's order is maintained (Arendt, 1968). Following from that, the political realm is the sphere of freedom where citizens can go to participate in a discourse that shapes the communitys destiny (Arendt, 1958).

Arendts ideas about education follow from these central concepts. In particular, she proposes a view that regards education's purpose during periods she terms "dark times," where societal order seems to crumble under political, social, or ideological crises (Arendt, 1961). In such times, Arendt states that education must serve as the mechanism for preservation preserving the old world for the new generation. She contends that in times of crises, the responsibility of education is to offer the continuity to young learners, just like health care workers are tasked with offering continuity of care to patients.

However, even though these insights might make logical sense, her understanding of the racial complexities inherent in Black American experiences has been criticized as considerably simplistic (Rodriguez, 2008). The limited racial lens through which Arendt viewed the world has been contested as it fails to comprehensively consider the intersection of race and education.

Despite her compelling analysis of education in "dark times," Hannah Arendt's limited perspective on Black Americans illustrates the need for a more nuanced analysis of her works. Through a critical review of her major works, including "On Totalitarianism," "The Human Condition," "Crisis in Education," and "Reflections on Little Rock," one can see how a broader perspective could strengthen her educational philosophy.

The Little Rock Crisis

The Little Rock Crisis, was a significant event in the history of the civil rights movement in the United States. It took place in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, when the local school board decided to comply with the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

The board's plan was to begin desegregation in the fall of 1957 at Little Rock Central High School. Nine African American students, known as the "Little Rock Nine," were selected to attend the previously all-white school.

However, their enrollment was met with staunch resistance from the local white community. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus further escalated the situation by deploying the state's National Guard to block the students from entering the school, citing concerns for public safety. This action defied the federal law and sparked a constitutional crisis over the enforcement of the Supreme Court's ruling.

In response, President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened by sending in federal troops to protect the rights of the Little Rock Nine and ensure they could attend school safely. This marked the first time since the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War that federal military power was used to uphold African Americans' civil rights.

The Little Rock Crisis became a symbolic event in the struggle for civil rights, showing both the fierce resistance to desegregation in certain parts of the country and the federal government's willingness to enforce new civil rights laws and court rulings. The events in Little Rock also drew international attention to the civil rights struggle and increased pressure on the United States to address its racial injustices.

Arendt on Little Rock, and Ellison on Arendt

Arendt's "Reflections on Little Rock" is indeed one of her most controversial essays. Written in response to the 1957 crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, where nine Black students were prevented from attending an all-white high school, Arendt's critique hinges on the distinction she makes between the private and public realms.

Arendt's thesis in "Reflections on Little Rock" is that the desegregation of schools represents an undue intrusion of politics into the private realm, which she saw as the domain of social interaction, personal relationships, and family. She held that in the private realm, individuals have the right to choose who to associate with, which, by extension, includes parents' rights to choose who their children go to school with.

This argument, however, fails to adequately recognize the extent to which systemic racism had permeated all aspects of life...…have been instrumental in shaping educational philosophies, but they do not sufficiently address the complexities of racial experiences in America. However, if one were to integrate the insights offered by intellectuals like Warren and Ellison, one could elaborate on and deepen Arendts views.

Arendt's contributions to political theory, particularly her concepts of power, authority, and the political realm, have had profound implications on our understanding of education, especially during times of societal crises. Her stance on the conservative role of education during such "dark times" provides a thought-provoking perspective on the function of education systems within broader social contexts.

However, Arendt's analysis shows a significant blind spot in its limited understanding of Black American experiences and the complexities of race and education in the United States. Her position in "Reflections on Little Rock" demonstrates this lack of nuance, offering an oversimplified view of the struggle for racial integration in education, which tends to ignore the systemic barriers faced by Black Americans (Arendt, 1959). This raises important questions about the application of her theories to the reality of racialized experiences within educational spaces.

Despite these limitations, it is important to underscore the value of Arendt's theories, especially when extended and critically reappraised through a more intersectional lens. The incorporation of insights from Black intellectuals like Robert Penn Warren and Ralph Ellison, as discussed, offers pathways to such a nuanced understanding.

Warrens extensive interviews with the Black community, as captured in "Who Speaks for the Negro?" (1965), reveal the complexities of Black experiences and expose a diverse backdrop against which Arendt's simplistic racial views can be more critically evaluated. Similarly, Ellisons critique of the "self-hating" Negro stereotype offers a necessary corrective to Arendt's limited racial perspective (Ellison, 1953).

In extending Arendt's work in this manner, we can retain the valuable aspects of her theories while also addressing the complexities of race and education. Such an intersectional analysis not only strengthens her philosophical framework but also advances our understanding of how race, identity, and societal crises interact within the sphere of education.

Conclusion

Arendt's focus on Western European experiences and thinking, as evident in works like "On Totalitarianism," "The Human Condition," and "Crisis in Education," may have limited her understanding of the unique historical and sociopolitical realities of marginalized communities, such as Black Americans. Her views on authority and tradition, as well as the public and private realms, did not fully account for how these concepts interact with systemic racism and oppression. Perhaps most controversially, in "Reflections on Little Rock," Arendt's opposition to school desegregation, based on the distinction between private and public life, seemed to neglect the lived experiences of Black Americans and the role of education in the perpetuation of systemic racism. As Ralph Ellison pointed out, her analysis was missing the nuanced understanding of sacrifice and the initiation rites associated with confronting racial hostility.

Thus, even though Arendt's philosophical and political insights have made substantial contributions to our understanding of education and political theory, her views as expressed in her Little Rock Crisis article fall short in their understanding of racial oppression and the African American experience. A more nuanced analysis of her work, incorporating insights from critical race theory and post-colonial studies, could potentially strengthen her educational philosophy and make it more relevant to diverse groups and contexts. From this perspective, one could say that her work underscores the importance of not separating theoretical frameworks from the lived…