Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy / Edition 1

by Lewis R. Gordon

Overview

First published in 1997. Existence in Black is the first collective statement on the subject of Africana philosophy of existence. Among questions posed and explored in the volume are: What is to be done in a world of near universal sense of superiority to, if not universal hatred? What is black suffering? What is the meaning of black existence? The introduction argues that a response to these questions requires an existential journey through the resources of identity questions in critical race theory and the teleological dimensions of liberation theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415914512
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/23/1996
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lewis R. Gordon teaches Africana philosophy and contemporary religious thought at Brown University.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: BLACK EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHY part I CONTEXTUALIZING BLACK PHILOSOPHIES OF EXISTENCE chapter 1 AFRICAN AND AFRO-CARIBBEAN EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHIES chapter 2 SELF-TRANSFORMATION IN AMERICAN BLACKS: THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND BLACK THEOLOGY chapter 3 ON THE READING OF RIDDLES: RETHINKING DU BOISIAN DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS chapter 4 EXISTENTIAL DYNAMICS OF THEORIZING BLACK INVISIBILITY part II THE SITUATION chapter 5 RETURN FROM THE UNITED STATES: WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT THE BLACK PROBLEM chapter 6 WHITE NORMATIVITY AND THE RHETORIC OF EQUAL PROTECTION 9 chapter 7 RACE, LIFE, DEATH, IDENTITY, TRAGEDY AND GOOD FAITH chapter 8 TONI MORRISON AT THE MOVIES: THEORIZING RACE THROUGH Imitation of Life (for Barbara Siegel) chapter 9 OF PROPERTY: ON CAPTIVE BODIES, HIDDEN FLESH AND COLONIZATION chapter 10 TOTING TECHNOLOGY: TAKING IT TO THE STREETS chapter 11 ON DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE BLACK CONTEXT chapter 12 RASTAFARIANISM AND THE REALITY OF DREAD part III QUESTIONING THE POSTMODERN, QUESTIONING BLACK EXISTENCE chapter 13 NIETZSCHE ON BLACKS chapter 14 THE CONCEPT OF DOUBLE VISION IN RICHARD WRIGHT'S THE OUTSIDER: FRAGMENTED BLACKNESS IN THE AGE OF NIHILISM chapter 15 FRAGMENTATION, RACE, AND GENDER: BUILDING SOLIDARITY IN THE POSTMODERN ERA part IV BLACK EXISTENCE AND BLACK LIBERATION chapter 16 EXISTENCE, IDENTITY, AND LIBERATION chapter 17 BLACK FEMINISM: LIBERATION LIMBOS AND EXISTENCE IN GRAY chapter 18 LIBERALISM AND THE POLITICS OF EMANCIPATION: THE BLACK EXPERIENCE chapter 19 CORNEL WEST AS PRAGMATIST AND EXISTENTIALIST chapter 20 ON VIOLENCE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION chapter 21 THE FIGHT WITH COVEY

Editorial Reviews

"... this is a useful and wide-ranging book that contributes to various aspects of the discussion of race. There is no other anthology like this... It is path-breaking in its demonstration that existentialism can be applied, historicized, concretized, and above all, that philosophy of existence is alive and well with a future as well as a past." — Teaching Philosophy
"Lewis Gordon has edited an impressive anthology within a specialized area of philosophy ... [T]his is a great resource." — Catholic Library World

From the Publisher