Black existentialism

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Black existentialism or Africana critical theory is a school of thought that "critiques domination and affirms the empowerment of Black people in the world".

African-American writers such as W. E. B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison in an existentialist frame.[2] As well as the work of Civil Rights Activists such as Malcolm X and Cornel West. Lewis Gordon argues that Black existentialism is not only existential philosophy produced by Black philosophers but is also thought that addresses the intersection of problems of existence in black contexts.[3]

Black Existential Philosophy

Black existential philosophy is a subset of

Australian Aboriginal people, who often refer to themselves as "Black." Thus, there is also work in Black existential philosophy from Australia, such as those organized through forums and articles by Danielle Davis in the Oodgeroo Unit of Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. In the United States, Black existentialism emerged with the work and theories of sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois in the late 1800s. Since the Civil Rights movement, Black existentialism has been expanded upon by notable activists such as Malcolm X
and Cornel West.

The first African American to earn a doctorate from

Anna Julia Cooper, and other earlier 19th-century black critical thinkers contended. Du Bois also theorized the importance of black music, especially the spirituals, and through them raised the question of the inner-life of Black people, which he referred to as their "soul," which in his discussion of double consciousness became "souls".[6] Du Bois also raised the problem of history in the study of Black existence. He noticed that double standards affected how history is told, and that the misrepresentation of history as an apology for white supremacy and colonialism led to the degradation of Black people as passive objects of history instead of makers of history. This occlusion depended on denying the struggles for freedom
waged by Black people in the effort to expand the reach of freedom in the modern world.

A danger of Black suffering is that it could lead to a sense of pointlessness of Black existence and a lack of self-worth. Cornel West has addressed the problem of Black nihilism and its effect on the African-American community.

The proper starting point for the crucial debate about the prospects for Black America is an examination of the nihilism that increasingly pervades black communities. Nihilism is to be understood here not as a philosophic doctrine that there are no rational grounds for legitimate standards or authority; it is, far more, the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness. The frightening result is a numbing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world. Life without meaning, hope, and love breeds a coldhearted, mean-spirited outlook that destroys both the individual and others.

Black suffering is also examined by the Martinican philosopher and psychiatrist Frantz Fanon (1925–1961). In his book Black Skin, White Masks (Grove Press, 1967; original French 1952), he argued that the modern world afforded no model of a normal Black adult. Instead, there are the pathologies of the Black soul, which he calls a white construction. This problem placed Black people in an alienated relationship with language, love, and even their inner dream life. Although he was careful to claim that there are exceptions to these claims, the general situation is as follows. Blacks who master the dominant language are treated either as not really black or receive much suspicion. Worse, they find themselves seeking white recognition, which affirms the role of whites as the standard by which they are judged. The matter repeats itself with love. Black women and Black men seeking white recognition do so, he argued, through asking for recognition from white male symbols of authority. That effort is self-deceiving. It makes such Black women ask to be loved as white instead of as women, and it makes such Black males fail to be men. Fanon also brings out the philosophical problem of reason and its relation to emotions by considering whether a flight into Négritude, the intellectual movement coined by Aimé Césaire, could enable Blacks to love themselves by rejecting white reason. But Jean-Paul Sartre's criticism in his essay "Orphée Noir" ("Black Orpheus") led Fanon into "changing his tune" by realizing that such a path was still relative to a white one and faced being overcome in expectations of a "universal" humanity, which for Sartre was a revolutionary working class. Fanon's response was that he needed not to know that, and later on in A Dying Colonialism (Grove Press, 1967; original French 1959), he pointed out that although whites created the Negro, it was the Negro who created Négritude. His point was that it was still an act of agency, and that theme of being what he called "actional" continued in his writings. At the end of Black Skin, White Masks, he asked his body to make of him a man who questions. Fanon's point was that racism and colonialism attempted to over-determine black existence, but as a question, black existence faced possibility and could thus reach beyond what is imposed upon it. In The Wretched of the Earth (Grove Press, 1963; original French 1961), he returned to this question at the historical level by demanding the transformation of material circumstances and the development of new symbols with which to set afoot a new humanity.

Black existential philosophical thought was also influential in the

anti-apartheid movement through the thought of Steve Bantu Biko. In I Write What I Like, Biko continues Fanon's project of thinking through alternative conceptions of humanity and offers his theory of Black Consciousness. Black consciousness applies to anyone who is involved in anti-racist struggle and is marked as the enemy of an anti-black, racist state. Thus for Biko, all people of color—indigenous Africans, Asians, mixed peoples, and whites who are "blackened" by their allegiance to anti-racism—are black. Biko presents here a political view of identity that resists a prior essence of black identity. One becomes black, reminiscent of Simone de Beauvoir's observation that one becomes a woman. South African philosophers influenced by Biko's existentialism include Noël Chabani Manganyi. The influence of Biko's thought is also discussed in Andile, Mngxitama, Amanda Alexander, and Nigel Gibson
(eds), Biko Lives!: Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

Black existential philosophy came to the academy in the 1970s in the work of William R. Jones, who argued for a humanistic response to black suffering through facing the absurd as found in the thought of Albert Camus and dealing with the contradictions of theological beliefs pointed out by Jean-Paul Sartre. Jones drew upon existential philosophy to reject non-verifiable claims posed by black theology, where history is presented as God trying to liberate black people. Historical evidence, Jones suggests, says otherwise. Instead of relying on God, black people should take their lives and history into their own hands and build a better future for human kind. This is not to say that Jones took the position that blacks who believe in God should not love God. His point is that they should not rely on God for the elimination of injustice on earth.

A philosopher heavily influenced by Du Bois, Fanon, and Jones is

slave's situation can only be understood, for instance, through recognizing the fact that a slave experiences it. It is to regard the slave as a value-laden perspective in the world".[7] Gordon later argues in Existentia Africana that such a concern leads to a focus in black existential philosophy on problems of philosophical anthropology, liberation, and critical reflection on the justification of thought itself. The first asks the question, What is a human being? The second asks how can one become free. And the third is critical even of the methods used to justify the first two. Gordon argues that these questions make sense because enslaved, colonized, and dehumanized people are forced to question their humanity. That leads to questioning the meaning of being human. He argues that concerns with liberation make sense for people who have been enslaved, colonized, and racially oppressed. Because these questions are posed as objects of inquiry and demand the transformation of consciousness such as the transition from Du Bois's first form of double consciousness to the second, critical one, Gordon advocates a black existential phenomenological approach, which he sometimes call a postcolonial phenomenology
or a decolonial one.

A philosopher influenced by Gordon is

Hitlerism
" and advocates the "decolonial sciences" (race and ethnic studies, Africana studies, women's studies) as critical forms of knowledge to articulate the humanistic project demanded by Fanon.

There is also the growing area of

Kathryn Gines, founder of the Collegium of Black Feminist Philosophers. Gines's work brings together ideas from Cooper, Sartre, Fanon, Hannah Arendt, bell hooks, and recent work in Africana phenomenology and black popular culture in such articles as: "Sex and Sexuality in Contemporary Hip-Hop" in Derrick Darby and Tommie Shelby
(eds), Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason—A Series in Pop Culture and Philosophy (Chicago: Open Court, 2005), and "The Black Atlantic, Afrocentricity, and Existential Phenomenology: Theoretical Tools for Black European Studies," Black European Studies, on line at Synlabor.de.

Black Existential Literature

insane asylum
became the critical voice early in the novel.

The African-American writer who was the closest to the Sartrean existentialist movement was

anti-hero of the novel, was produced by such a system and is often envied by many as a form of resistance to it. Wright's insight portended the emergence, for example, of the contemporary black "gangsta," as portrayed in gangsta rap
.

In retrospect,

James Baldwin has been considered by others as a black existentialist writer; however he was quite critical of Richard Wright and suspicious of his relationship with French intellectuals.[8]

Baldwin also brought questions of

interracial and bisexual relationships into consideration and looked at the question of suffering as a struggle to defend the possibility of genuine human relationships in his novel Another Country
.

The writings of

trauma that haunts black existence from slavery.[9]

W.E.B. Du Bois

The first African American to earn a doctorate from

Anna Julia Cooper, and other earlier nineteenth-century Black critical thinkers contended. Du Bois also theorized the importance of black music, especially the spirituals, and through them raised the question of the inner life of Black people, which he referred to as their "soul," which in his discussion of double consciousness became "souls".[6] Du Bois also raised the problem of history in the study of Black existence. He noticed that double standards affected how history is told and that the misrepresentation of history as an apology for white supremacy and colonialism led to the degradation of Black people as passive objects of history instead of makers of history. This occlusion depended on denying the struggles for freedom
waged by Black people in an effort to expand the reach of freedom in the modern world.

Malcolm X

Unlike many other Black philosophers, Malcolm X was not introduced to philosophy or existentialism through higher education. Rather, he became interested in Black existentialism through his work as an activist and his relationship with Islam. In his work as an activist, Malcolm X birthed the organization of Afro-American Unity, which was concerned with "...a social, political, and economic network for creating consciousness among black people..." and to encourage Black individuals to explore the concepts of cultural self-determination and enlightenment to liberate themselves— [12] each of which are essential thoughts to Black existentialism.

Existentialism vs. Black Existentialism

As Black existentialism is a subset of existential philosophy, the two thoughts overlap on subjects of existence, consciousness, anxiety, nihilism, despair, and fear.[13] However, there are also several key differences between Black existentialism and Euro-centric existentialism. One of the main differing factors is the idea of the "individual". In existentialism, the individual is the focus; one's actions, personal meaning, and awareness take centerfold. However, in Black existentialism, there is minimal focus on individualism or irreducibility. Rather, the focus is on Black consciousness and liberation on a global scale— often making comparative references to the suffering of Black individuals in the United States, and all across the African diaspora. Repeatedly, Black existential philosophers call and compare for the liberation of Black people worldwide.[12] Black existentialism also argues against the common misconception that all Black experience is the same. This misconception increases the struggle for Black individuals to define their identity and greater meaning.[13] That element of identity is shared between Existentialism and Black existentialism. Both thoughts state that the human identity and experience are unique and have long been categorically distorted.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Magnus O. Bassey, "What Is Africana Critical Theory or Black Existential Philosophy?", in: Journal of Black Studies, July 2007, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 914-935.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2011-02-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-26. Retrieved 2011-02-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ W. E. B. Du Bois (1897). The Souls of Black Folk. A. C. McClurg & Company. Retrieved 2008-08-31. The Souls of Black Folk.
  5. ^ Earnest Allen Jr. (1997). "On the Reading of Riddles: Rethinking Du Boisian Double Consciousness" (PDF). Existence in Black. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  6. ^ a b See, for example, the work of Terence Johnson, such as "'My Soul Wants Something New': Reclaiming the Souls Behind the Veil of Blackness," in Jason R. Young and Edward J. Blum (eds), The Souls of W.E.B. Du Bois: New Essays and Reflections, Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2009, pp. 110–133.
  7. ^ Existence in Black, Routledge, 1997, pp. 3–4.
  8. ISBN 9780312643065
    . Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  9. ^ See, for example, the discussion of that novel in Marilyn Nissim-Sabat, Neither Victim Nor Survivor, Lanham: Lexington Books, 2009, chapter 8.
  10. ^ W. E. B. Du Bois (1897). The Souls of Black Folk. A. C. McClurg & Company. Retrieved 2008-08-31. The Souls of Black Folk.
  11. ^ Earnest Allen Jr. (1997). "On the Reading of Riddles: Rethinking Du Boisian Double Consciousness" (PDF). Existence in Black. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  12. ^
    ISSN 0021-9347
    .
  13. ^
    ISSN 2159-0311
    .

Further reading

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_existentialism&oldid=1221080906"