The myth of black ethnicity : monophylety, diversity, and the dilemma of identity
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The myth of black ethnicity : monophylety, diversity, and the dilemma of identity
Ablex Pub. , Distributed by Global Care Imports, c1997
- pbk.
Available at 6 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-178) and indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In the late 1800s W.E.B. Dubois asked what it really means to be black in America. He raised the spectre of divided loyalties and the blurring of individuality that he called "Double Consciousness". This volume offers an insight into this "dilemma of identity" by asking the seemingly rhetorical question, what does O.J. Simpson have in common with the participants in the Million Man March, the jury that set him free, the people who inexplicably cheered his acquittal, the prosecuting attorney, the black Muslim Louis Farrakhan, or with his own children? Each case involves cross-cutting currents of age, sex, religion, race, ethnicity, class and ideology. But what they share among themselves, and with the rest of the nation, is the firm conviction that they are black. The author aims to reveal the importance of this imaginary bond, this ethnic ethic, this myth of black ethnicity. He explores its creation, its evolution and its role in linking together the many generations of blacks in America. Dr Davis also seeks to show: how this myth connects the slave huts of Alabama to O.J.'s Brentwood estate; how it connects him to his jury emancipators; how it connects Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to discussions of affirmative action; and how it connects an ancient Juffure villager named Kunta Kinte to contemporary slum dwellers in Harlem.
The book argues that it is not race that ties these diverse millions together, but a co-operatively developed paradigm shared by blacks and non-blacks alike as to what constitutes an authentic black existence. By de-bunking the myth, the author seeks to point the way to a fuller recognition of the individual differences that blacks have always had but that are becoming more apparent as the opportunity to express them becomes more prevalent.
Table of Contents
- Part 1 Life-course diversity in the black community: forging a radicalist paradigm
- black ethnicity from a social psychological perspective
- life-course diversity in the black community
- the role of ethnicity in social life
- coda. Part 2 The myth of black ethnicity: black ethnic mythography
- ethnic culture - the right stuff? Part 3 Black ethnic diversity in global perspective: Caribbean-Americans
- African Americans
- Black Americans
- the social construction of primordiality. Part 4 Black ethnic families: the individual, the family and the society. Part 5 Ethnic nostalgia in black education: cultural discontinuity
- family, community and the institutional order. Part 6 Black colleges - a raisin in the sun, or grannie's ax? some points to ponder. Part 7 Religion, the black church and the ethnic ethic: more than just a religious institution
- religion and the ethnic ethic
- politics and the ethnic ethic
- economic realities in the black community. Part 8 The identity dilemma: the perpetual dilemma
- the ethnic myth revisited
- black diversity in historical perspective
- the dilemma of identity. Part 9 An epilogue - looking ahead: "E pluribus unum"
- the myth of black ethnicity, the life-course and individuality - bringing it all together
- conclusions, discussions and implications. Appendix: the National Survey of Families and Households (January 30, 1990).
by "Nielsen BookData"