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 18th c. and early 19th
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.
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