A Conversation with Volney Gay About Whiteness, Anti-Black Violence, and the Pleasures of Owning People

Volney Gay is the guest on this week’s episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a professor of religious studies, psychiatry, and anthropology at Vanderbilt University and author of the new book On the Pleasures of Owning Persons: The Hidden Face of American Slavery.

During this week’s episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Volney and Chauncey discuss how black chattel slavery was pleasurable for white people, anti-black violence throughout American history, the psychology of white supremacy, and white racial paranoia thinking. Volney also explains how anti-black violence helps to constitute Whiteness and the power of sadism together with racism in Donald Trump’s appeal to his supporters.

This Thanksgiving week’s episode also features some bonus content that can be heard at the end of the show. Gabriel Mendes stops by the virtual bar and salon to discuss his new book Under the Strain of Color: Harlem’s Lafargue Clinic and the Promise of an Antiracist Psychiatry. Gabriel shares some hidden history about how Dr. Fredric Wertham –who is most famous for his campaign against comic books–worked with the great Richard Wright to make mental health services more accessible to the residents of Harlem during the 1940s.

In this week’s episode, Chauncey DeVega explains why right-wing Christians like Roy Moore prey on young girls and how this is connected to the so-called “purity” movement where fathers take a vow to protect their young daughters’ virginity. And reflecting on the real meaning of Thanksgiving, Chauncey also shares Tecumseh’s Speech to the Osages (Winter 1811-12) about the imminent threat posed by white Americans to First Nations people.