Paul Gilroy’s, “The Black Atlantic as a Counterculture of Modernity”

In Paul Gilroy’s, “The Black Atlantic as a Counterculture of Modernity,” he begins his chapter by stating, “…contemporary black English, like the Anglo-Africans of earlier generations and perhaps, like all blacks in the West, stand between (at least) two great cultural assemblages, both of which have mutated through the course of the modern world that formed them and assumed new configurations” (p. 1). He continues on to explain that these identities are stuck in an antagonistic relationship that is labeled by the colors “black” and “white” (p. 1). Gilroy believes that this duality of colors has supported the ongoing discourse of nationality, national belonging and dialogues surrounding race and ethnic identity (p. 2). Gilroy argues that these ideas of nationality and ethnicity are not only historically constructed but were “crystallized” in the late 18^th c. and early 19^th c.  He is concerned with “…exploring some of the special political problems that arise from the fatal junction of the concept of nationality with the concept of culture and the affinities and affiliations which link the blacks of the West to one of their adoptive, parental cultures: the intellectual heritage of the West since the Enlightenment” (p. 2).

The point I believe that Gilroy is trying to make throughout the chapter is that there is a transnational exchange of ideas happening across and throughout the Atlantic which he views as a mixture of cultures rather than separated and distinct European and Black identities. I think the best example he uses to describe this idea is a ship, more specifically ships that were used in slave trading. Gilroy views the image of a ship in motion as resembling the exchange of ideas that occurred across the Atlantic during and after slave trading (p. 4).  While I find his argument interesting, I would not mind learning of any possible criticism that he may have received regarding his ideas.