Darkening Blackness: Race, Gender, Class, and Pessimism in 21st-Century Black Thought

Author:   Norman Ajari ,  Matthew B. Smith
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
ISBN:  

9781509555000


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   24 November 2023
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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Darkening Blackness: Race, Gender, Class, and Pessimism in 21st-Century Black Thought


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Overview

The concept of Afropessimism does not refer to Black people, but rather to the likelihood of white society overcoming its own negrophobia, and to a radical distrust in white narratives of inclusivity. What if the ideas and reforms we regard as progressive were just the new and shiny face of racism? In the time of Black Lives Matter, the unswerving dehumanization and killing of Black people form the bedrock of our civilization. But a vast anti-Black collective feeling also manifests itself as a more insidious shared unconscious, hidden from view by the doctrines we deem as emancipatory. This book challenges the simplistic and pacifying aspects of current African American thought. It puts forward alternatives to intersectionality, poststructuralism, and radical democracy, which are often prioritized in the Black analysis of race, gender, and class. Accessible, historically informed, and politically alert, this book offers a critical analysis of the groundbreaking theories and strategies that radically reimagine the future of Black lives throughout the world.

Full Product Details

Author:   Norman Ajari ,  Matthew B. Smith
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.10cm
Weight:   0.272kg
ISBN:  

9781509555000


ISBN 10:   1509555005
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   24 November 2023
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Introduction Chapter 1 The Sources of the Afropessimist Paradigm Chapter 2 Theoretical Origins of Afropessimism Chapter 3 From the Black Man as Problem to the Study of Black Men Chapter 4 A Politics of Antagonisms Postface By Tommy Curry Notes Index

Reviews

“Norman Ajari’s Darkening Blackness is a masterful defense of Afro-American pessimism and Black Male Studies against the misguided view that ‘pessimism’ means hopelessness and eternal defeat.  Instead, pessimism is treated as meaning the rejection of fantasies, especially the fantasy that says one more revision will alter insidious white racialized civil society and intrinsically unjust Euro/American institutions. Step into Ajari’s theoretical world and step out unburdened by fantasy.” Leonard Harris, Purdue University “For those who still do not understand that the pessimism in Afropessimism is not an emotional dispensation but a meta-critique of the first principles of Western thought, Norman Ajari’s Darkening Blackness is required reading. His analysis of Black Male Studies will have as many people nodding their heads as shaking their heads, which is the first step toward rigorous and honest debate.” Frank B. Wilderson III, Chancellor’s Professor of African American Studies, University of California, Irvine


Author Information

Norman Ajari is a lecturer in Francophone Black Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

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