332 RüdigerKunow
relationship.^11 In a further step, the relationship between somatics and
semantics, their dialectic, can then be shown to unfold in a series of
additonal, equally dialectic dualisms, such as the dichotomies of
outer/inner,physical/intellectual,material/mental,etc.
Among the various ways which suggest themselves for ordering the
reflections initiated by the dialectic of the somatic and the semantic, I
will follow a rather simple route, asking how this dialectic plays itself
out in the ways a body "bears meaning" (Butler, "Performative Acts"
521), silently (as it often seems) or in emphatic ways. In tracing these
processes, I will move from individual incidents to larger techno-
scientific agendas, both of course inflected by political and economic
agendas.
BodiesinEmergenceandEmergency^12
It seemsplausible to expectthatthe somatics/semantic dialectic will
reveal its urgencies most poignantly in moments of individual or
collective crisis. Racism, its pervasive presence in the history of the
United States offers a long list of incidents proving that assumption.^13
My example here will be the sad story of Emmett Till, an African
Americanteenagerwhoin1955wasbrutallymurderedandthenthrown
into the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi, allegedly for whistling at a
Caucasianwoman.^14 Whenhisremainswerereturnedtohismother,she
insisted thathis coffin remain openandbeputon public display so that
people could see the workings of racism on a human body: "Till had
(^11) Quite obviously, I am following Fredric Jameson's lead here, who has
repeatedly insisted that radical difference does not separate but rather relate
(Val encesoftheDialectic36,498).
(^12) This coinage goes back to Brian Massumi and his essay "National Enterprise
Emergency,"esp.35-39.
(^13) The most obvious example of how racism puts the body in crisis would of
course be lynching. For an argument that seeks to establish what she calls
"BlackDeath"asacategoryofsocialorganizationcf.Holloway155.
(^14) Aside from Giroux, the history of this case has been multiply related. My
narrative here follows Dewey S. Anderson.Emmett Till: The Murder That
Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement. Jackson: U of
MississippiP,2015.Print.