“Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan: Summary and Critique

Introduction: “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan

“Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan first appeared in the 2018 collection Lacan and Race, published by Cambridge University Press. This chapter critically engages with Lacanian psychoanalysis to explore the relationship between race and segregation, arguing that racism should be understood within the broader context of social formations dictated by the master’s discourse. A central claim is that race, rather than being a purely biological or visual marker, is structured through discourse, which organizes social bonds and segregative mechanisms. Khan builds on Jacques-Alain Miller’s concept of extimacy—the idea that what is most intimate to a subject is also radically foreign—to explain how racism functions through the rejection of the jouissance of the Other. The essay also situates Lacan’s comments on colonialism, capitalism, and the decline of the Name-of-the-Father within the historical processes of segregation and racial differentiation. By engaging with Freud, Lacan, and contemporary scholars like Eric Laurent and Kalpana Sheshadri-Crooks, Khan’s work underscores the necessity of psychoanalytic inquiry in critical race studies. This perspective challenges universalist humanist discourses that seek to erase difference while simultaneously exacerbating racial exclusion. In literary and theoretical discourse, Lacan and Race contributes to the ongoing critique of the ways in which power, knowledge, and subjectivity are interwoven with racialized structures, offering an alternative framework for understanding race beyond biological essentialism.

Summary of “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan

• Race as a Construct of Discourse
  • Race is not an inherent biological or physical reality but is structured through discourse.
  • Lacan states that “[a race] is constituted according to the mode in which symbolic places are transmitted by the order of a discourse” (Khan, 148).
  • Racial identities are shaped by language and ideology rather than natural differences.
• The Master’s Discourse and Colonialism
  • The master’s discourse, particularly in its colonial form, imposes a Eurocentric framework upon colonized subjects.
  • Lacan observed that “the unconscious that had been sold to them along with the laws of colonization” (Khan, 149) demonstrates how colonial rule reshapes subjectivity.
  • Colonialism replaces indigenous knowledge with Western concepts, influencing the unconscious itself.
• Science, Capitalism, and Segregation
  • The modern discourses of science and capitalism have fractured the symbolic order, intensifying segregation rather than promoting universalization.
  • Jacques-Alain Miller asserts, “Our future as common markets will be balanced by an increasingly hard-line extension of the process of segregation” (Khan, 150).
  • Globalization claims to unite, but instead reinforces racial and social barriers.
• The Role of Jouissance in Racism
  • Racism is not just about visible differences but about resentment toward the jouissance (excessive enjoyment) of the Other.
  • Miller explains that racism “aims at the real in the Other” and involves “the hatred of the jouissance of the Other” (Khan, 157).
  • This concept highlights how racial hatred is driven by the belief that the Other enjoys in an unacceptable or excessive way.
• Freud and the Psychology of Racial Group Formation
  • Freud’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921) suggests that social cohesion relies on shared exclusion of a particular group.
  • “Closely related races keep one another at arm’s length” (Khan, 152), illustrating how identification and exclusion reinforce racial antagonism.
  • Freud’s idea of the “narcissism of minor differences” explains how even minor distinctions can lead to intense hostility.
• The Universalizing Drive of Science and Capitalism
  • Science and capitalism attempt to create a universal human subject, yet they intensify segregation rather than dissolve it.
  • Lacan states, “The factor at stake here is the most burning issue of our times…segregation” (Khan, 155).
  • Scientific discourse aims at universality but inadvertently deepens racial divides.
• The “Melting Pot” and the Persistence of Racism
  • The “melting pot” ideology assumes that cultural and racial differences can be seamlessly integrated, but Lacan challenges this assumption.
  • He argues that true coexistence requires “not imposing our own [jouissance] on him” (Khan, 156).
  • Attempts to force assimilation often result in further alienation and rejection.
• Extimacy and the Internalized Other
  • Racism is rooted in a deeper struggle with one’s own jouissance, leading to the rejection of the Other.
  • Miller states, “The root of racism is the hatred of one’s own jouissance… it is also hatred of myself” (Khan, 159).
  • This suggests that racial hatred is not purely external but also reflects an internal conflict within the subject.
• The Psychoanalytic Response to Racism
  • Psychoanalysis provides a unique approach to racism by examining its unconscious mechanisms.
  • Miller observes, “The universal mode—which is the mode under which science elaborates the real—seems to have no limit, when in fact it does” (Khan, 160).
  • Unlike universalist approaches, psychoanalysis acknowledges the singularity of each subject’s jouissance.
• Anti-Racism as a Perpetual Invention
  • Racism evolves with shifting social structures, requiring continuous reinterpretation and resistance.
  • Laurent emphasizes, “Antiracism always has to be reinvented in keeping with each new form of the object of racism” (Khan, 161).
  • Anti-racism must be a dynamic and historically responsive process rather than a fixed ideological stance.

Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan

Theoretical Term/Concept	Definition	Explanation from Lacan and Race
Master’s Discourse	A dominant discourse that structures social and ideological relations.	The colonial discourse functions as a master’s discourse, shaping the unconscious of colonized subjects by imposing Eurocentric ideals (Khan, 149).
Symbolic Order	The system of language and laws that structures human subjectivity.	The decline of the Name-of-the-Father in modernity has fractured the symbolic order, intensifying racial segregation (Khan, 150).
Segregation	The social process of separation based on constructed differences.	Lacan argues that modern civilization, despite its claim to universalism, enforces “a complex, reinforced and constantly overlapping form of segregation” (Khan, 148).
Jouissance	A form of excessive enjoyment that resists full integration into the symbolic order.	Racism is fueled by resentment toward the jouissance of the Other, which is perceived as excessive or unassimilable (Khan, 157).
Extimacy	The paradox of something being both external and intimate to the subject.	Racism is based on “the hatred of the jouissance of the Other,” which is actually a rejection of one’s own internalized Other (Khan, 159).
Narcissism of Minor Differences	Freud’s concept that small perceived differences between groups lead to hostility.	“Closely related races keep one another at arm’s length,” demonstrating how minor distinctions become sources of conflict (Khan, 152).
Universalization	The attempt to create an all-encompassing framework that applies to all subjects.	Science and capitalism promote universality, but this paradoxically intensifies racial divisions (Khan, 155).
The Melting Pot	The idea that different cultures can be assimilated into a homogeneous society.	Lacan critiques this as a false ideal, stating that the jouissance of the Other cannot simply be erased or integrated (Khan, 156).
The Real	A dimension of experience beyond symbolic representation, often linked to trauma or excess.	Miller suggests that modernity has led to “the real without law,” severing the connection between nature and social reality (Khan, 150).
The Name-of-the-Father	The function that structures the symbolic order and subjectivity.	The decline of this function in modernity contributes to racial segregation and disorder (Khan, 155).
Primitive Accumulation	The process of wealth extraction that underpins capitalism.	The history of capitalism cannot be understood without considering its racialized foundations in “primitive accumulation” (Khan, 149).
Scientific Racism	The use of science to justify racial hierarchies.	The human sciences have historically framed racialized bodies as objects of “segregative reason” (Khan, 149).
Psychoanalytic Anti-Racism	A response to racism that examines its unconscious mechanisms rather than just social structures.	Miller states that “anti-racism always has to be reinvented in keeping with each new form of the object of racism” (Khan, 161).

Contribution of “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan to Literary Theory/Theories

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Examples of Critiques Through “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan

Literary Work	Lacanian Concept from Lacan and Race	Critique Through Azeen Khan’s Analysis
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899)	Master’s Discourse & Colonial Unconscious	– The novel exemplifies how colonial discourse imposes a master’s ideology that shapes the unconscious of both colonizer and colonized. – Kurtz’s descent into madness reflects the destabilization of the symbolic order, as he moves beyond European rationality into the “primitive” (Khan, 149). – The racialized portrayal of Africans as “savage” aligns with scientific racism in literature, reinforcing colonial power structures (Khan, 149).
Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987)	Jouissance & Extimacy	– The novel illustrates how Black trauma and historical violence are linked to the unassimilable jouissance of the racialized Other. – Sethe’s actions (killing her child) demonstrate how slavery produces a fractured subjectivity, tied to the rejection of her own jouissance (Khan, 159). – The ghost of Beloved embodies the return of the repressed, mirroring how the historical unconscious continues to shape Black identity in America.
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958)	Segregation & The Decline of the Name-of-the-Father	– The novel critiques colonial disruption of Igbo society, where traditional authority (symbolized by Okonkwo and the elders) collapses under Western rule. – The colonial master’s discourse erases indigenous structures, replacing them with a European symbolic order (Khan, 148). – Okonkwo’s downfall can be read as the collapse of the Name-of-the-Father, leading to segregation within his own people as they become divided by colonial influence (Khan, 155).
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915)	The Racialized Subject & The Real	– Gregor Samsa’s transformation into an insect reflects the dehumanization of the Other, akin to racialized bodies being marked as “vermin” or subhuman (Khan, 157). – His family’s rejection of him mirrors society’s segregation of the racialized subject, as the master’s discourse determines social worth. – Gregor’s existence outside human recognition echoes the Real without Law, where his jouissance is seen as excessive and intolerable (Khan, 150).

Criticism Against “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan

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1. Overemphasis on Psychoanalysis Over Material Conditions

• The book primarily analyzes race through Lacanian psychoanalysis, but critics argue that this overlooks material and socio-political factors in racial oppression.
• Critique: Race and racism are deeply tied to economic, legal, and historical structures (e.g., capitalism, colonialism, systemic racism), yet Lacan and Race focuses more on unconscious structures.
• Example: Critics from Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Marxist literary studies argue that psychoanalysis alone cannot explain racialized economic exploitation.

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2. The Abstract Nature of Lacanian Concepts

• Lacanian psychoanalysis is highly abstract, making it difficult to apply to concrete racial realities.
• Critique: Terms like jouissance, extimacy, and the Real may provide insight into the unconscious dynamics of race, but they lack tangible explanatory power for real-world racial struggles.
• Example: Some scholars argue that postcolonial theorists like Fanon and Said offer clearer frameworks for analyzing race and power compared to Lacan’s dense theoretical language.

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3. Limited Engagement with Postcolonial and Intersectional Theories

• The book engages Lacan, Freud, and Miller, but less so with postcolonial theorists like Fanon, Spivak, or Bhabha.
• Critique: While Khan examines race through the unconscious and discourse, she does not fully integrate intersectionality, feminist critiques, or decolonial perspectives.
• Example: Hortense Spillers and Saidiya Hartman’s work on Black identity and racial trauma could have expanded the discussion beyond Lacanian categories.

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4. Neglect of Non-Western Psychoanalytic Traditions

• Critique: The book focuses on European psychoanalysis (Lacan, Freud, Miller) without acknowledging how psychoanalytic ideas have been adapted in non-Western contexts.
• Example: Scholars of African, Asian, and Indigenous psychology might challenge whether Lacanian theory is the best tool for understanding racial subjectivity outside Europe.

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5. Questionable Applicability to Literary Analysis

• Critique: Some scholars argue that literary analysis based on Lacan is often forced, as it may impose psychoanalytic structures onto texts that do not explicitly engage with psychoanalysis.
• Example: Applying Lacan and Race to texts like Achebe’s Things Fall Apart or Morrison’s Beloved may ignore these novels’ cultural, historical, and political specificities in favor of a purely theoretical framework.

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6. The Risk of Universalizing Racial Experience

• Critique: The book’s focus on psychoanalysis and discourse risks universalizing the experience of race, treating racial identity as a structural effect rather than a lived reality.
• Example: By framing race as an effect of the master’s discourse, it may downplay how race is experienced differently across history, geography, and social context.

Representative Quotations from “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan with Explanation

Quotation	Explanation
“I believe that in our day and age, we could classify the mark, the scar, left by the father’s disappearance under the heading and general notion of segregation.”	Lacan suggests that the decline of paternal authority (Name-of-the-Father) has led to a more fragmented society, where segregation becomes a primary organizing force rather than universalism.
“Capitalism and science have combined to make nature disappear. And what is left by the vanishing of nature is what we call the real, that is, a remainder, by structure, disordered.”	Jacques-Alain Miller argues that modernity has fractured the symbolic order, causing a disordered “Real” where nature is no longer an organizing principle, leaving humans in an unstructured, chaotic state.
“The unconscious that had been sold to them along with the laws of colonization, this exotic regressive form of the master’s discourse, in the face of the capitalism called imperialism.”	Lacan critiques how colonialism imposed a European unconscious on colonized subjects, erasing their indigenous psychological structures and replacing them with the dominant master’s discourse.
“A race is constituted according to the mode in which symbolic places are transmitted by the order of a discourse.”	This suggests that race is not merely biological but constructed through discourse, meaning racism is tied to how societies symbolically organize differences rather than inherent traits.
“On the one hand, there is the universalizing orientation of science (for all); on the other, the accentuation of segregation (not for all).”	Lacan highlights the paradox of modernity: science and capitalism claim to be universal but simultaneously create new forms of exclusion and segregation.
“Racism effectively switches its objects as the social forms undergo modification. From Lacan’s perspective, however, there is always, in any human community, a rejection of an unassimilable jouissance.”	Racism is not static but adapts to shifting social conditions. Lacan argues that at its core, racism is about rejecting the “jouissance” (excess pleasure) of the Other, which cannot be assimilated into dominant society.
“Without our jouissance going off the track, only the Other is able to mark its position, but only insofar as we are separated from this Other.”	Lacan explains that identity is formed through separation—the Other is only recognizable when set apart from the dominant subject. This reinforces segregation and racial divisions.
“Racism is founded on what one imagines about the Other’s jouissance; it is hatred of the particular way, of the Other’s own way of experiencing jouissance.”	Racism is not just about physical differences but about perceived differences in pleasure and behavior—it is the fear that the Other enjoys differently or excessively.
“The Other is unfairly subtracting from you a part of your jouissance. That is the constant. The root of racism is the hatred of one’s own jouissance.”	Lacan suggests that racism is rooted in a projection—people externalize their own anxieties and frustrations onto racial Others, blaming them for their own lost pleasure.
“The universal of the ‘for all’ generates the segregations it pretends to destroy.”	The attempt to universalize identity and culture paradoxically creates more exclusion, as universalism erases particularities, leading to resistance and new forms of division.

Suggested Readings: “Lacan and Race” by Azeen Khan

1. Khan, Azeen. “Lacan and race.” After Lacan: Literature, theory, and psychoanalysis in the twenty-first century (2018): 148-164.
2. Burnett, Ron, and Jacques Lacan. “A Conversation with Jacques Lacan.” Discourse, vol. 7, 1985, pp. 66–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389079. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
3. Lane, Christopher. “The Psychoanalysis of Race: An Introduction.” Discourse, vol. 19, no. 2, 1997, pp. 3–20. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389442. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
4. Voruz, Véronique. “Psychoanalysis at the Time of the Posthuman: Insisting on the Outside-Sense.” Paragraph, vol. 33, no. 3, 2010, pp. 423–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43151860. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.