By Jay-Dani Guzmán
In an auditorium at the Music Building here at Lehman on the 15th of February, I had the opportunity to meet and interview Prof. Lewis Gordon and his wife Prof. Jane Anne Gordon. We discussed the ideas in question and shared anecdotes of our surprisingly converging experiences. Writing this profile allowed me to highlight Lewis Gordon and his book titled ‘’Black Existentialism & Decolonizing Knowledge,’’ which provided a worthy payoff for meeting the author, thus opening a door that I might have otherwise overlooked. Although today’s focus is on the aforementioned title, it must be acknowledged as the work of a family. Having read that Lewis and Jane are a perfect complement to each other, when asked about its verity Mrs. Gordon said that she “hope[s] that is true,” which was all the confirmation I needed.
The Gordons have ties to Lehman that span four decades. Mr. Gordon was a student here, undertaking eight classes per semester as an undergraduate without having declared a major. According to Prof. Gordon, that was both fun and a privilege, an experience he wishes today’s students could appreciate.
In his talk, he reflected on how leaving Lehman with more credits than needed for any major provided him with a knowledge and understanding of the world that would become the foundation for his entire life. He embarked upon entering the wide world, with just an undergraduate degree.
The Gordons have worked across the globe on every continent except Antarctica–a detail to be revisited shortly. Mr. Gordon, respected by his peers as a “global scholar”, told me that he views the world as “a small, fragile blue dot” after having traveled and studied it extensively. His understanding of the world started right here in the Bronx, a realization we would do well to embrace.
When asked which aspect of his work he hoped would endure, he and his wife concurred that it should be the shift in the “geography of reason.” For those unfamiliar with the concept, it challenges the idea that important ideas originate solely from specific places and times and that outside of these, there is nothing. Today, many of us understand the world through a Eurocentric intellectual legacy. Whether it be the achievements of ancient Greece, Medieval France, premodern Germany, or colonial Britain, the assumption is geographically speaking, all ideas have emerged from the northern hemisphere. Professor Gordon and many colleagues worldwide wish to advocate that “important ideas have come from everywhere throughout all time”—a simple theory yet impossible for many to understand.
Inquiring what the Northern Hemisphere could learn from the Southern Hemisphere. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were at a loss for words to give a summary of an astronomical and its implications on every person on the planet.
“No person is a god [of ideas]’’, they explained. ‘’We are in a very intimate relationship with one another… and what I think a lot of life is about is figuring out what our part is in the larger project. What I think about the global south is that it is a conception born out of the concept of a global north. But ultimately, we must develop a planetary understanding of who we are.”
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have plans to work in Antarctica and Greenland within the next couple of years. The only two places on Earth they have yet to visit, will finally “complete their resume,” as I put it. I welcome all to purchase their books and retrace the Gordon family’s steps, which began right here and will only end if allowed to be forgotten.
