Description
Book SynopsisSince the 1960s, there have been two schools of thought on the origins and nature of black consciousness: the adaptive-vitality school and the pathological-pathogenic school. The latter argues that in its divergences from white American norms and values, black American consciousness is nothing more than a pathological form of and reaction to American consciousness, rather than a dual (both African and American) counter hegemonic opposing identity-in-differential (the term is Gayatri Spivak''s) to the American one. Proponents of the adaptive-vitality school argue that the divergences are not pathologies but African institutional transformations preserved on the American landscape. The purpose of this work is to understand black consciousness by working out the theoretical and methodological problems from which these two divergent schools are constructed, in order to arrive at a more sociohistorical, rather than racial, understanding of black consciousness. Using a variant of structurat
Trade ReviewPaul Mocombe's The Soul-less Souls of Black Folk: A Sociological Reconsideration of Black Consciousness as Du Boisian Double Consciousness is an important and long overdue contribution that argues convincingly and eloquently for a re-interpretation of black consciousness. It offers possibilities for transformation at global, political and social arenas by inviting scholars and communities to conceptualize and problematize the impacts of slavery, migration and displacement, and colonialism and post-colonialism on consciousness, knowledge and subjectivities relevant to current post-industrial societies. Academics, professionals and activists in the fields of sociology, philosophy, anti-colonial, anti-racist and ethnic and racial studies, both in North American and in the Diaspora, can benefit greatly by reading and using this book. -- Dr. Amal Madibbo, Assistant Professor, Calgary University, Alberta, Canada
Paul Mocombe takes on a giant of black sociology, Dr. William Du Bois, challenging his famous thesis in the Souls of Black Folk. Proposing an original socio-historic interpretation of black consciousness, Mocombe offers an engaging, combative and insightful theory vital for considering the state of black America today. -- Jerry Harris, Sect. Global Studies Association
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Chapter I. Introduction to The Souls of Black Folk Chapter 2 Chapter II. A Structural Reading of African American History in America Chapter 3 Chapter III. On the Interpretation of Du Bois's Double Consciousness Chapter 4 Chapter IV. Black Consciousness Today
