Dr. Pichichero's paper will consider universalism as it relates to Critical Race Theory. Scholars most often consider universalism as a discourse that emerged in the context of Enlightenment secular moral philosophy and that later coalesced into a critical element of political discussion and rights-making during the French and Haitian Revolutions. While the discursive importance of universalism is vital to our understanding of this period in history and its legacies, Dr. Pichichero argues that the lenses of discourse analysis and intellectual history too often replicate colonialist erasures. Offering a radical reframing of universalism grounded in phenomenological perspectives and “history from below,” rather than focusing on revolutionary heroes on either side of the Atlantic, she brings to light the ways that African and African-descended people—especially women—of the long eighteenth century developed a praxis in response to universalism as lived experience from within the purview of their positionalities. Recognizing and expertly navigating the privileges and exclusions of European universalism, these individuals utilized their power, often within the realm of intimacy, in order to chart a path of resistance and make concrete steps toward securing greater and more stable freedom for themselves and their kin.

Perrine Gaudry will discuss universalism as it relates to sexuality. Whereas universalism should ensure political and legal equality, these assurances do not necessarily apply to individuals whose sexuality exists outside of universalist norms. For this talk, Gaudry will look at Chevalier de Jaucourt’s article “Hermaphrodite” (1765), the supplement Hermaphrodite of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie and the plates illustrating it (1777) as well as Nadar's series of photographs, Hermaphrodite (1861), which follow in the vein of encyclopedic classification. First analyzing “Hermaphrodite” and the supplement “Hermaphrodite” and the plates illustrating it, and the text and images that bend the classificatory enterprise in spite of themselves, she will then examine how Nadar's photographic voice creates such a gap. If Nadar's first intention is not necessarily one of dissent, it complicates the "majority" medical voice that is being constituted on "sexual deviances". Although Nadar’s series is undoubtedly commissioned to justify surgical reassignment - which would confirm gender binarism as the basis of a universal right - it shows traces of a certain contradiction inherent in such a gesture.

Finally, Nicole Ferrari will discuss universalism and its relation to social class. Despite Victor Hugo's tireless political and literary support for Enlightenment universalism, he was painfully aware of the voices it continued to exclude in the nineteenth century. His novel Les Misérables dramatizes the exclusion of ex-convicts and prostitutes from the universal human community. Although Jean Valjean establishes what Ferrari calls a proto-republic in Montreuil-sur-Mer, he must assume a false name. The skeptical menace of erasure that hounds Valjean throughout the novel cannot be remedied. In Stanley Cavell’s terms, this constant threat of skepticism is integral to human experience. Valjean’s concealment of his true identity means protecting and buffering himself against this threat so that he can live, work, and love Cosette. He must at all times, however, contend with the risk of becoming the other in the eyes of the law and society. Tragically, only at the point of death is he acknowledged by his loved ones and admitted into the human community. This paper explores what this dramatization means for universalism, and whether It is doomed to the threat of skepticism and to a spirit of exclusion.

For this panel, three panelists will present 20-minute long papers after which we will open the discussion to a 15-minute period of unstructured discussion.