Contemporary Relevance of the Du Boisean Duality Construct

Tunde ADELEKE

Makale detayları

Contemporary Relevance of the Du Boisean Duality Construct

Yazarlar:

Tunde ADELEKE

Yayıncı:

American Studies Association of Turkey (ASAT)

Dergi:

Journal of American Studies of Turkey 2002 Issue 16, pp.65-76

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

9/2002

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2000735048

Sıklık:

İki Yıllık

pISSN:

1300-6606

Özet:

 

In his classic study, The Souls of Black Folk William E. B. Du Bois  described the Black American as someone tormented by consciousness of  his, "twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two  unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body." With this  poignant observation, Du Bois underscored both the central problematic,  and the nuances of Black American identity and experience, representing the  duality as an inherently contradictory and conflicted construct. In other  words, the black American inhered two identities  American and Negroid   locked in a state of almost perpetual struggles  3 . As expected of any  conflict, the war of the conflicting ideals held the possibility of one  eventually upstaging the other. But Du Bois cautioned against this  possibility. Neither identity should assume dominance, since each possessed  intrinsic essence and validity. As he argued, the Negro "wishes neither the  older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too  much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in  a flood of white Americanness, for he knows the Negro blood has a message  for the world"  3-4 . This perspective, or the duality, as it is commonly  known, shaped popular and scholarly discourses on black identity for  decades to come. The conception of the black American as the product of a  dual conflicted heritage became widely acknowledged. More recently,  however, this duality has been challenged by many who are driven by  conflicting reactions to the realities and experiences of post civil rights  America. Certain critical questions beg for consideration: Are the conflicting  ideals reconcilable? Is coexistence possible, or is segregation the ultimate  end? These are the questions at the root of contemporary discourses on the  identity of black Americans. This paper examines these discourses and their  implications for Du Bois’s duality construct.

Makale detayları

Contemporary Relevance of the Du Boisean Duality Construct

Yazarlar: Tunde ADELEKE

Yayıncı: American Studies Association of Turkey (ASAT)

Dergi: Journal of American Studies of Turkey 2002 Issue 16, pp.65-76

Belge Tipi: Makale

Yayın Tarihi: 9/2002

Belge Dili: İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.): 2000735048

Sıklık: İki Yıllık

pISSN: 1300-6606

Sayı

Yazarlar:

Tunde ADELEKE

Yayıncı:

American Studies Association of Turkey (ASAT)

Dergi:

Journal of American Studies of Turkey 2002 Issue 16, pp.65-76

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

9/2002

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2000735048

Sıklık:

İki Yıllık

pISSN:

1300-6606