The Idea of Black Culture

The Idea of Black Culture
Author(s): Hortense J. Spillers

Source: CR: The New Centennial Review, Vol. 6, No. 3, W. E. B. Du Bois and the Questions of
Another World (winter 2006), pp. 7-28
Published by: Michigan State University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41949535
Accessed: 19-01-2016 10:41 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Michigan State University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to CR: The New
Centennial Review.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 132.239.1.230 on Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:41:29 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
The Idea of Black Culture
Hortense]. Spillers
Vanderbilt
University
A RETURNTO THE IDEA OF BLACKCULTUREMUST BE CONSIDERED

todayin a criticalclimatethatis not hospitableto thetopic,even though
hospitalityand accommodationhave neverbeen attributesof the con-
textin whichthe idea was eitherengenderedor understood.An aspectof
the problematicforthe investigator, then,is to get in sighta horizonof
inquirythatwill enable,ifnot necessarilyvouch for,a projectthatis, by
verydefinition, anachronisticfromseveralpointsofview.Perhapsitwould
be moreaccurateto saythata powerfulrepertory ofrefusalsthatmakethe
topic a virtualimpossibility now blocks one's view: (1) the recessionof
the subject,historicaland otherwise;(2) a dimensionlesspresent,on an
analogywithtelevision;and so, (3) theimpoverishment ofhistory;(4) the
decline of the conceptand practicesof the nation-state,exceptthatcur-
rentU.S. foreignpolicy,thedramaticriseofpost-Sovietstates,and China's
sensationalemergenceon the contemporary worldstagewould all urgea
seriousrethinking of such claims; (5) the "exhaustionof difference";(6)
thenew impulsesofa globalizationso complete,we are led to believe,that
locality,or the "local" itself,apparentlyvanishesas a discretemomentof
• 7
8• The Idea of Black Culture
perception;and paradoxically,(7) an Afrocentric

conceptualspace thatso
collapsesthedistancebetweena putativeAfricanDiaspora and thecultures
of the AfricanContinentthatlittledifferentiationis interposedbetween
them.Anycoeval attempt,then,to revisetheprojectof black cultureas a
conceptualobjectand as a practicaldevisetowardtheachievementofsocial
transformation
mustconfrontthesefullyblownsymptomsofimpediment
thatappear to have surgedup fromthe reactiveformsof the post-içóos
world.
One of the symptomsthat I have identifiedhere- "the exhaustion
- along withthe restof the repertoire,mightbe takenas a
of difference"
featureofthecriticalframework thatenablessucha projectas thisone, at
thesame timethatit significantly
altersthetopicawayfromthebinaristic
impulsesthatmighthaveinspiredthequestionin thefirstplace. Published
in 2001,AlbertoMoreiras'sTheExhaustion thetitlethatI have
ofDifference,
purloinedhere,inquiresintotheepistemicconditionsthatwould makeit
possibleto situateLatin-Americanist
culturalstudies(Moreiras 2001). We
mightlinger here a moment because thistextoffersa brilliantsynthesisof
theoreticalreflectionon the new epistemes,amongwhichI would locate
theinquiryI am embarkedon, and whichrunsparallel,as an instanceofan
to theone thatI have in mysights.
emergentsocial formationin discourse,
Furthermore,it poses the kindof resistancethata projectlike "the idea
of black culture"mustanswer. One of the crucial demonstrationsthat
TheExhaustion ofDifferencecarriesout,in its exemplarity, is the dancing
thevalue of dialecticalengagementapplied as a braketo closuralmotions
along a trajectoryof conceptualpoints: thisinterminablemotionhas its
drawbacks, well,not the least of whichis its tedium,perhapsanother
as
renderingof "exhaustion,"but the rewardhere is thatthe splitbetween
- is avoidedas the
positions- thatscissiparouseffectthatis false,in truth
case unfolds.The challenge,then,to mountthedivisionand rideit,rather
thanrepose in any particularnuance,can neverbe entirelywon, but the
effortis worththe expense and identifiespreciselythe kindof problem-
atic thatthenew epistemeshave wantedto tackle;theprocessof dialogic
or dialecticalmovementbetweenpunctualitiesalso suggeststhatanalysis
oftenproceedsfromtheposition-taker drivingherpointagainstanother
HortenseJ. Spillers • 9
thatis,perhaps,onlythereverseofherputativeown,or itscomplement,or
one peremptory sideofa splitthatcouldpossiblybe suturedwithan appar-
entother,ifa dialogicalrhythmor currentcould be createdand sustained
betweenthem. Dialogismin thisinstancemightarresttheadvanceof the
"strawman."
One of the othermost persistentrefusalsof blackculturalconceptu-
alization is, ironicallyenough,Afrocentrism itself,which comes at the
question from a very different angle thanthatof the"exhaustionofdiffer-
ence." Ifanything, Afrocentrism is theradicalembraceof difference,with
a "difference," as it places in confrontationAfrocentrism and Eurocentrism.
Its mostprominenttheorizer,MolefiAsante,proposesin his 1987text,The
AfrocentricIdea, thatAfrocentricity
means "placingAfricanideals at the
centerof anyanalysisthatinvolvesAfricancultureand behavior"(Asante
1987,6). He goes on: "The Afrocentric
analysisreestablishesthecentrality
of theancientKemetic(Egyptian)civilizationand theNile Valleycultural
complexas pointsofreference foran Africanperspectivein muchthesame
way as Greeceand Rome serveas referencepointsfora Europeanworld"
(9). Asantetraceshis own intellectualancestryback to W. E. B. Du Bois
(the intellectualparentofdivergent
positionson blacknessand Africanity)
and CheikhAntaDiop, Senegalesethinkerand politician,who, following
certaincueslaid downbytheclassicalwriters- Herodotus,eminentamong
them- places ancientEgyptin a parentalrelationshipto Greece. Martin
Bernal's two-volumeBlackAthenasystematically examines the research
protocols of the eras of European scholarshipthat place Greece in the
forefrontofEuropeancivilization,and itis a matterofinterestthatAsante
appears to accept the Hegelian provenanceof Greece as it is unfoldedin
ThePhilosophy ofHistory. In anycase, thebreakor gap thattheconceptof
the "black Atlantic"1proposes,or thatthe ideologies of Pan-Africanism
put forth,is so sutured,so sewn up, in Afrocentricitythatthe culturesof
the Diaspora and of the continentbecome,by negligibledetour,a single
project,or as one pair of commentatorsmighthave put it,inhabitantsof
thesame "theoreticcontinent"(Diouf and Mboji 1992,118).
Butas powerfully inscribedas thetrendline of refusalsmaybe and as
persistentlyrepeatedas its rumorsand fables,its scripturesand strictures
io • The Idea of Black Culture
and convictionsmay tell us it is, it appears inadequate to the everyday

requirements subject,to theunrecordableand indeterminate
ofa fictitious
thatwritesitself
excessesofthesocialfabric,and to thememorialstructure
into human activityfromlanguageacquisitionto the conscious pursuit
and expressionof the arts.In otherwords,whereone lives,it seems that
therumorsdo notmatter.Andit is preciselythatsplitof motivesbetween
currentsystemsof thought(writtenin indelibledespair)- in some ways,
whollyreconciledto the technologicalsupremacythatHerbertMarcuse
identifiedseveraldecades ago in his "one-dimensionalman," and wholly
attunedto suchapparatuses,inwhichcase "culture"is notfaringverywell,
whileparticularexpressionsofit,as in "blackculture,"areno longername-
able- and those spaces of habitationthatare organizedand unfoldedas
ifin an autonomyof valuesthatis goingto hauntanydiscussionof social
formationsthatare assigneda culturalvalence.At firstglance,thereis a
problemhereof firstand second level stresses,or to put it anotherway,
beforewe can venturean idea about the "idea of black culture,"we must
reestablishan outlookon the "idea of culture."On second thought,how-
ever,thefirstand secondlevelsofstressactuallyconverge,as we recognize
thatthegettingtogetherofthesepunctualitiesis notso muchthequestion
thatwillallow
as itis theminingofthatrobustveinofan apparentsinglicity
severaland sometimeoverlappingroadbedsto truckthroughit.The aimof
thisessayis to negotiateone oftheseroadways.
o o o
RaymondWilliams assured the reader some time ago that "culture"is

"one ofthetwoor threemostcomplicatedwordsin theEnglishlanguage"
(Williams1976,76). Williams'sseminalKeywords, wherehe advancedthese
formulations morethanthreedecadesago now,has engenderedin ourtime
a NewKeywords : A RevisedVocabulary whose initial
of Cultureand Society,
invocationofWilliams'svirtualdisavowalofthetermculture tendsto make
one lookratherfoolishon thisgroundanyway:"Thereis now,"theeditors
'
begin,"a good deal ofhesitancyoverthevalueofthewordculture'(Bennett
et al. 2005,63). The editorsthengo on to quotefromWilliams'sPoliticsand
Letters, when,inresponseto an interviewer's interrogation- "Whydidyou
HortenseJ. Spillers • ii
decide to adopt the termculture,in fullconsciousnessof its accumulated

semanticrange,to denotea whole way of life- in preferenceto the term
society. . . ?"- Williamsanswers
I supposeI feltthat,forall itsdifficulties,

culture
moreconveniently
indi-
catesa totalhumanorderthansocietyas ithadcometobeused.I alsothink
bythis time I hadbecomeso usedtothinking withthisconceptthatitwas
ofpersistence
justa matter as muchas anything
else.After
all mostofthe
workI wasdoingwasinanarenawhichpeoplecalled"culture,"
eveninthe
narrowersense,so thatthetermhada certainobviousness.Butyouknow
thenumber oftimesI'vewishedthatI hadneverheardofthedamnedword.
I havebecomemoreawareofitsdifficulties,notless,as I havegoneon.
(Williams1979,154)
The editorspointout thatthetermculture,"a deeplycompromisedidea,"

in JamesClifford'sestimation,is neverthelessone thatClifford"cannot
yetdo without"(Bennettet al. 2005,63). Perhapsconceding,then,a little
somethingto the dubeityof "culture"(thoughI onlypretendto be con-
vinced,butwould advisedlyhedgemybets),we mightthinkofthetermas
a crucialplaceholder.
In Keywords,
Williamstracesthe complexsemantic/
careerpathofthetermfromitsprovenancein wordshavingto do withthe
organic- fromcolere:to inhabit,cultivate,
protect,honorwithworship- to
its generalizeddistinctionsfromtheemergentcivilizationsof nineteenth-
century industrialdevelopment.FromMarx'sPrefacetotheCritique ofPoliti-
cal Economy, Williamselaborateson the"superstructure," or thedifference
to the "economic structure,"and fromthis distinction,he derivesthree
"broadactivecategoriesofusage"forculture,onceitwas no longerconfined
in referenceto a "literalcontinuityof physicalprocess..." (1976,80): (1)
"the independentand abstractnoun whichdescribesa generalprocessof
intellectual,spiritualand aestheticdevelopment";(2) "the independent
noun,whetherused generallyor specifically, whichindicatesa particular
wayoflife,whetherofa people,a periodor a group..." (80). Anditis here
that"culture"meetsup withthe anthropologicaland ethnographicpos-
tures,as "the specificand variableculturesof social and economicgroups
withina nation" (79). (Michel de Certeauarguesin trackingthe birthof

exoticismand theelitistconceptof"popularculture"in eighteenth-century
Francethat"it is at themomentwhena cultureno longerhas themeansto
defenditselfthattheethnologist
or thearchaeologistappears" [de Certeau
1974,54].)2Thirdly,culturein theschemeofKeywords
is the "independent
and abstractnoun whichdescribestheworksand practicesof intellectual
and especiallyartisticactivity"(80).
WhatWilliamsadvances,then,is a "complexargumentabouttherela-
tionsbetweengeneralhumandevelopmentand a particularwayoflife,and
betweenbothand theworksand practicesofartand intelligence"(80-81).
Perhapswe could amendthisoutlineto encompassa psychoanalytic com-
ponent,whichwould be global and dispersedin its impact,thatis to say,
of culturethat is located in an indeterminatespatial and
the imaginary
temporalprogression(if we could even call it "progression"),sprouting
sequencesthatcannotbe markedor anticipatedall thetime,ifat all. Along
thisdimension,culturedoes nothavea name- itis not"black"or "white,"
"African,"or "European,"or anyotherdesignation- but as thepoets have
insistedabouttheworkofthepoem,theculturalimaginarydoes notspeak
its meaning,is contentto be mute of explanation.It appears fromthis
as it seems lived as
angle thatcultureis boundlessand undifferentiated,
a second skin.Culture,as a term,mightadhereto a certainstillnessand
on paper, butbeyonditsnominalevocations,itis visibleonly
predictability
and itscontentsshowfortha repertoireofimplements,from
in itseffects,
thefantastic/imaginal thatsplinterin pluralnessand
to theactual/material
considerablevariation.Fromthisvantage,thereare,perhaps,only[black]
cultures.
As familiaras theseimpressionpointsmaybe,one returnsto themover
and overagain,seekingan orientationto a topicthatwe knowso well that
we areactuallyignorantofit.I believethattheaim is to "return"and know
theplace as forthefirsttime.We appearto have reacheda ratherpeculiar
pass, whereineverything mim-
is culture(or so it seems), or everything
ics culture.Have we attaineda heightor depththatmightbe describedas
the dissolutionof the political stage with the resultthatthe state/ideo-
logical apparatusesare apparentlyinternalizedat the profoundestlevels
of identity,as Louis Althussersketchedthem? Is it now impossible to

imagineand achieve,forreasonsthatAlthusserelaborated,a radicalsocial
and democratictransformation of the social order?And would a revised
and correctednotionof "culture"help to usherus there?In a 1965essay,
HerbertMarcuse argued that culture"is more than a mere ideology,"
insofaras a givensociety's"prevailinginstitutionsand the relationships
amongthe membersof the respectivesocietymustshow a demonstrable
"
affinityto theproclaimedvalues (190). In otherwords,whata society
alleges its values are "mustprovidea basis fortheirpossiblerealization"
(190; emphasisMarcuse). In its professedgoals, culturemaybe defined,
he argues,as a "process of humanization,characterizedby the collective
effortto protecthumanlife,to pacifythestruggleforexistencebykeeping
itwithinmanageablebounds,to stabilizea productiveorganizationofsoci-
ety,"to developthehumanintellectualresources,and "to reduceand sub-
limateaggressions,violence,and misery"(190-91). Marcuse profferstwo
qualificationsin his argument,elaboratedin "Remarkson a Redefinition
Man, thatothercriticstendto
of Culture,"as well as in One-Dimensional
elide so thata good deal of thecommentarytreatsthe"idea of culture"as
an ellipticalsmoothness,butMarcusepenetratesto theheartofa difficulty
unless,forwhatever
thatone probablywould notrecognizeas a difficulty,
reason,herantennaehad been awakened:he contendsthatthe "validity"
ofculture"has alwaysbeen confinedto a specificuniverse,constitutedby
tribe,national,religious,or otheridentity"(191). On a relatednote,there
"has alwaysbeen a 'foreign'universeto whichtheculturalgoals werenot
applied: the Enemy,the Other,the Alien,the Out-cast- termsreferring
not primarilyto individualsbut to groups,religions,'ways of life,'social
systems"(191). In the meetingwiththe Enemy,"cultureis suspendedor
evenprohibited,and inhumanity can oftenrunitscourse"(191).We recog-
nize in thisdescriptionofcultureand thecutthatitinscribeson an analogy
withthe Kleinian"bad breast,"whichseems to be the onlyone available
"
todayin all sectorsof the globe. But it is onlyin the exclusionof cruelty,
fanaticism,and unsublimatedviolence" thatthe "definitionof cultureas
theprocessofhumanization"is allowable(191; emphasisadded). Accord-
ing to this reasoning,the Nazi warriorman-eaterwho boasted that he
flourishedhis weapon wheneverthe word was utteredanywherein his

vicinityhitthenail on thehead, insofaras the "culture"to whichhe sub-
scribedand would have thewakingworldsurrenderwas not cultureat all
in its will to thepulverizationand murderof the Other.Inasmuchas the
termand certainofthepracticespursuedin itsnameare as oftenfreighted
withthemostmonstrousinstancesofperversionand misruleas not,then
we are forcedto admititsfragility,
evenitsoccasionaldreadfulness;at the
same time,its corrective whichMarcuse sketched,but no longer
potential,
believedin by 1965,forsure,constitutesthe analyticaland transforming
elementthatthe investigatorkeeps an eye trainedon. The ambiguityof
culture,in its oscillatingweatherpatterns,is hardlyrestfuland comfort-
ing,but a degreeof discomfortis thebest thatwe will be able to manage
here,witha fairlyhighquantumof "negativecapability."Butthisimper-
fectionmaybe sufficient
to thecase.
Whatis at stakein Marcuse's"Remarkson a Redefinition of Culture"is
a reexamination of cultureas it involves"therelationofvaluesto facts,"or
"themeansofsocietyrelatedtoitsself-professed
ends..." (191).Eventhough
Marcusewas makingtheseargumentsfourdecades ago, I am returning to
-
themherenot onlyto invokethe "two cultures"dispute culturein refer-
ence "to some higherdimensionof humanautonomyand fulfillment" and
in reference
civilization to "therealmofnecessity,ofsociallynecessarywork
and behavior"(192)- butalso in orderto traversethedisputein openingan
interlocution betweentheorists oftheblackculturalproblematicand think-
ers of the "dialecticalimagination,"to invokeMartinJay'swork,3because
it seemsto me that"criticaltheory"and itsaims towardpraxisforma link
betweenthese disparatefar-flung positivitiesacross cultures,races, lan-
guages,temporalsequences,historyand thegeostrategic ground,and social
formations; in seekingan interlocutoryoccasionbetweensome ofthewrit-
ingsofW. E. B. Du Bois and certainrepresentative figuresoftheFrankfurt
School, Marcuse prominentamongthem, I am neither suggestingnorseek-
ing(noryetdo I suspect)an "anxietyofinfluence" ofanykind- Du Bois,for
instance,was threedecadesolderthantheoldestmembersoftheFrankfurt
School,just as his textTheSoulsofBlackFolkprecedesthefoundingof the
- but,rather,to consider
Instituteof Social Researchbynearlya generation
howthehistorical occupyinitsterrible
juncturethatwe currently and
frights
unmistakablefailuresmightbe informedby theserespectiveand overlap-
pingtheorizationsthatbothsought,fordifferent
reasons,a criticaltheory
of cultureand society;whattheyhad in commonwas theencounterwith
theextreme,Du Bois,attempting to avoiddespairat theverynadirofblack
lifeand developmentin theearlydecadesof thetwentieth and the
century,
School,whosememberswereforcedto learn,in flight,
Frankfurt "thefearof
the
death, sovereignmaster"
(Hegel 1931,237).The tremorthroughoutevery
fiberand to feelit everydayis nottheusual circumstance,
butwithinthese
biographicaloutlines,itwas thegadflythatdispatchedmorethan
respective
one Germanspeakeracrosstheoceanandblackmenandwomento write and
think
as thoughtheirverylivesdependedon it.
WhatmightDu Boismeanfora culturalworkertodaywhensheencoun-
tersthesewordsfromthe 1903SoulsofBlackFolk:"and, all in all,we black
men [sic]seemthesole oasis ofsimplefaithand reverencein a dustydesert
ofdollarsand smartness"(Du Bois 1999,16)? Or whenhe expresseddisap-
pointment,towardtheend of his long life,thatblackcommunityhad not
become thevanguardthatwould ushertheAmericanRepublicintoa new
heavenand a new earth?Du Bois died in Accra,estrangedfromthe land
of his birth,on the eve of the 1963March on Washington;slatedto have
appearedon thepodiumthatday,Du Bois mightbe said to havemissedthe
momentofa certainfruition,
butwe havecome roundagainand thistime,
as thoughtherehad neverbeen a Du Bois or a marchor an arduousstruggle
forhumanrightsand social justice on U.S. soil; whatwere questionsfor
him are not onlyno less poignantnow,but all themoreurgentin lightof
the oblivionthatsweeps over the Republiclike a terribleblight.In that
regard,the interlocutionthatI am posing herecrossesits wiresbetween
the imperativesof readingand the goad to action- in short,the defining
dilemmaofDu Bois's lifeand meditation.
Du Bois's visionarysense of black Americancultureas a potential
critiqueof Americanbusiness cultureis regardedby one commentator
as a weave of contradictions,
sewn fromthe fabricof the historicalorder
in which his ideas were engendered.Shamoon Zamir expands on these
observations,arguingthatDu Bois's culturaland ethicalattitudesreflected
i6 • The Idea of Black Culture
"his earlyPuritanupbringing,and his New Englandbeliefin cultureas the

moralregulatoroftheexcessesand exploitationsofthecommercialworld
..." (Zamir1995,107).Butto mymind,we maybeable to recoverDu Bois's
entireculturalprogramon theotherend ofthecenturyas a versionofwhat
Marcusewouldcall theworkofhumanitas, or theaim ofculture,described
as "modes of thought,imagination,expressionessentiallynonoperational
and transcendent,
transcendingthe establisheduniverseof behaviornot
towarda realmofghostsand illusions,buttowardhistoricalpossibilities"
(194). Byway of humanitas, Marcuse emphasizesthe "cognitivecontent"
oftheculturaloeuvres,theintellectual"facultiesand an intellectualaware-
ness" thatare not"exactlycongenialto themodesofthoughtand behavior
requiredby the prevailingcivilizationin advanced industrialcountries"
(193). This "cognitivecontent,"set overand againstoperationalmodes of
thoughtand behavior,would constituteand complementtransformative
aims analogous to the protocolsof human reconstructionthatDu Bois
sketchesthroughout thebodyof TheSoulsofBlackFolk.
On a relatednote,whathas been describedas thefoundingimpulseof
theInstituteofSocial Research- thatis to say,thearticulation
ofa "theory
of societyas a whole, a theoryof the contemporaryera" (Wiggershaus
1995)- bearsbroad affinityto Du Bois's systematicattempt,startingwith
ThePhiladelphia , completedat thetailend ofthenineteenthcentury,
Negro
to applythebestavailableknowledgeand methodology ofhis time(theera
oftheyoungsocial sciencesin theUnitedStates)to the"Negroproblem."
The AtlantaUniversity series,underDu Bois's directionfrom1897on,was
designedto investigate in "the
everyphase ofblacklife;an idea originating
conferences on education,labor,and farming,"annuallyhosted,starting in
theearly1890s,byHamptonand TuskegeeInstitutes(Lewis 1993,218),the
studiesdemarcatethe firstsystematicanalyticalsequence on black social
formationbythelightsoftheempiricalsocialsciences.We mightalso recall
thattheDu Boisian standpoint,complicatedto pin down because it is an
eclecticmixofphilosophy,history, and laborand economictheory,along-
sideDu Bois'straininginlanguagesandtheclassics,was partiallyconcocted
fromaspectsof Germancontinentalphilosophy,via Kantand Hegel,and
whereDu
bytwoyearsofstudyat Berlin'sHumboldtUniversity,
reinforced
birthdayin 1893.When Du Bois suggeststhat

Bois spenthis twenty-fifth
the Negro's contributionto worldcultureswill be "spirit,"I believethat
we hearHegelianechoesthatreverberate, as well,in theformulation
ofthe
"double consciousness."In anycase, the metaphysicalcomplexionof Du
Boisiansocial scienceseemswhollycompatiblewiththeimportofcultural
trainingthatDu Bois drawsout in "Of theWingsofAtalanta"and "Of the
TrainingofBlackMen," bothfeaturedin Souls, as wellas in one ofhismost
well-knownessaysoutsidethecontextofthelatter- his1897"Conservation
ofRaces,"whichmightbe consideredtheinauguralgestureofthefounding
of theAmericanNegroAcademyin 1897.As Marcuse definedthe "aim of
culture,"Du Bois espousedthecontentof the"liberalarts"as a blue print
forthe culturaland historicalapprenticeshipof theliberatedpersonality.
WhileDu Bois's vocabularywas notthatoftheFrankfurt School,and as far
as we can tell,he was notin sustainedconversationwithMarxisttheoreti-
cians,unlesswe want to counthis late conversionto communismin the
1950s,his historicalmaterialistperspectiveon the questionof the "color
line" and his keenly-felt
globalsenseofthecolorproblematicin relationto
forceswereoftenfarmoresophisticatedand thorough-going
geostrategic
thantheblack nationalistembraceof Marxistcurrentsof thoughtduring
the 1960s. For sure,Du Bois executeda Marxistcritique,thoughit might
nothavebeen calledthat,fromone end ofhis careerto theother,and that
he associatedthegrowingcommodification
ofAmericansocial,economic,
and laborpracticeswitha fatalmisadventure
cannotbe doubted.
Michel de Certeauparcelsout thefunctionsof "culture"and "civiliza-
tion,"orwhatC. P. Snow elaboratedas the"twocultures,"in thefollowing
way: le durand le mou(de Certeau1974,233ff),or the"hard"and the"soft"
functionsof social management;cultureforde Certeaustandsin forthe
"soft."Itis socialmanagementleavinga remainder, ora scar,calledculture,
"4
andthisregion"is silentlyexploitedbythehard, eventhoughtheobjective
calculationshave attemptedto evade the unknown,the unanticipated -
whata givenpracticewill makeof prefabricated signsand whatthe signs
become forsendersand receivers(233-34).This motility, set in motionby
theunpredictable, -
skirtsthebordersofthecalculated inMarcuse'swords,
operationalmodes of thought;cultureby theselightsdescribesa "terrain
i8 • The Idea of Black Culture
and itsfatewas to become"thecolonizedofthetwen-

ofneo-colonialism,"
tiethcenturyas contemporarytechnologyinstallsits empiresin culture
notunlikeEuropeannationsofthenineteenthcenturymilitarily occupied
unarmedcontinents"(234).5This calculusof motivesleads de Certeauto
concludethatcultureis the"cancerous,immoderatesymptomofa society
dividedup betweenthe technocritization of economic progressand the
of civicexpressions"(23s).6One of theeventualitiesof this
folklorization
ofcitizenship,as LaurenBerlantmakesthecase
is theprivatization
fracture
(Berlant1997),and thisatomizingof thepoliticalprocessby corporatism
effectuallydrivesout thepublicsphereand thegoals and conceptsrelated
to it. Certeauconcludesthe argumentby contendingthatthe multiform
strugglebetweenthe "hard" and the "soft"evincesinternaldysfunction:
theappropriationof productivepowerby privilegedorganismshas as its
ofsocialcapitaland thepoliticalregressionof
corollarya misappropriation
-
thecountry thatis to say,thevanishingor theeviscerationofdemocratic
power in determining of workthata
the organizationand configuration
societyperforms foritself
(23s).7Thoughde Certeauacknowledgesthathis
examplesare drawnfromtheFrenchscene,perhapscultureas theterrain
ofa pathologyis evenmonotonousacrosstheWesternzone,ratherlikethe
bumpsand swellingson a body,as he describesit (23s).8The triumphant
youngwolvesof thelogic of development,he maintains,presideoverthe
thehardeningof ideologies,bornof yesterday,
fearof insecurity, and the
regressionofconservativeswho revertto a religiouslanguageinwhichthey
no longerbelieve(235~36).9
Nowhereare theseobservationsmoreuncannilydisplayedthanin the
United States of the earlytwenty-firstcentury;marshaledbetween the
mid-to-late 1970s,thesearguments readlikea primerofeveryday lifeat this
historicaljuncturein ournationalcontext.We couldwelladd to thepicture
thenew virtualrealitiesof thecyberspaceand thesuper-private bubbleof
the
solitudethatit inflates, dissolutionofboundaries betweencivilian and
militarytargetsand installations,mostdramaticallyexpressedin the 9/11
attackson New York'sWorldTrade Centerand thePentagon,and bomb-
thethreatofthe
ingsin theSpanishcapital,as well as London,and finally,
liquidationofadvancedcapitalism's "social between
contract" citizenand
corporation,exemplifiedin the state'sfailureto protecttheprivateprop-

ertyofinvestorsin debaclessuchas thoserelatedto Enronand WorldCom.
Iftheverynotionof"investment"is no longersacred,truly,America'sreal
religion,thenwe know thatwe are somewhereelse not entirelyunlike
thatterrainon whicha littlegirlnamedDorothyfromthestateof Kansas
arrivedone fineday.
Butwhetherornotone comesto groundherein themagicaltwinkletoes
of innocenceor the full-blownnightmareof a morematurestateof con-
sciousnessdependsnotsimplyupon age,butupon thevantagefromwhich
one intercepts - millionsofcitizensfedon theawful
theinescapablepicture
carrionofillusionand lies.Andifthatis whereone is, thenit mightbe said
that,indeed,our nationalcultureand itsvarioussubflowshave not served
us verywell.This discouraging
spectacle,fairlyaccurateto one's own sense
ofthings,is describedbyMarcusebeforeCerteauas a "prevailingformand
direction"evokedin thename of the "progressof civilization[calling]for
operationaland behavioralmodesofthought, foracceptanceoftheproduc-
tiverationality
of thegivensocial systems,fortheirdefenseand improve-
ment,but not fortheirnegation"(193; emphasisadded). For Marcuse,it
was thecognitive
content
of the "higher"culturewhose workwas precisely
thisnegation,thoughsuch culture"was divorcedfromthetoiland misery
of thosewho by theirlabor reproducedthe societywhose cultureit was"
(193).In thatway,the"higher"culture"becametheideologyofthesociety,"
while,as ideology,he argues,itwas "dissociatedfromthesociety,andin this
dissociationit was freeto communicatethecontradiction, theindictment,
and therefusal"(193). While culturalcommunicationis technicallymulti-
plied- a computerin everypot- "vastlyfacilitated,
muchrewarded,"it is
also truethatits "contentis changedbecausethementaland evenphysical
space in whicheffectivedissolutioncan developis closed" (194). Marcuse
makesclearthatby the "eliminationof theformerantagonisticcontentof
culture,"he is notaddressing;"thefateofsomeromanticideal succumbing
to technologicalprogress,nor theprogressivedemocratizationof culture,
northeequalizationofsocialclasses,butrathertheclosingofa vitalspacefor
thedevelopment ofautonomyand opposition,thedestruction ofa refuge,of
a barrierto totalitarianism"
(194), in whichconditionhe identifies
thefate
20 • The Idea of Black Culture
ofthe"one-dimensional
man." Marcuse'strenchant
"Remarks"carriesthe
forceofclosure,butone holdsout forwhateverfruitstheambiguousmight
disperse,or evenMarcuse's own exerciseof theparadoxical,expressedin
theinauguralparagraphsof thisessay: the absenceof cultureas a process
of humanization
"maywellbe an integralpartof culture,so thattheattain-
mentor approximation
oftheculturalgoalstakesplace through
thepractice
of crueltyand violence"(191). This tightweave of impulsesmightexplain
"theparadoxthatmuchofthe'higherculture'oftheWesthas beenprotest,
refusal,and indictment - notonlyofitsmiserabletranslation
ofculture into
butof itsveryprinciplesand content"(191)! One, therefore,
reality, works
withtheimperfectionsathandandenters thecontradiction,ifpossible.Terry
Eagletonarguesin TheIdeaofCulturethatculture"signifies
a doublerefusal:
oforganicdeterminism on theone hand,and oftheautonomyof thespirit
on theother.It is a rebuff and idealism,insistingagainst
to bothnaturalism
the formerthatthereis thatwithinnaturewhichexceeds and undoes it,
and againstidealismthateventhemosthigh-minded humanagencyhas its
humblerootsin ourbiologyand naturalenvironment" (Eagleton2000, 4-5).
Eagletonconcludes his in a
interrogation way thatis farmoresanguinethan
eitherMarcuse'sor Certeau'sinquiryintocultureas pathologicalsymptom,
ofsocialmeans.ForEagleton,cultureis notonlywhatwe
ora disproportion
livefor,butalso whatwe liveby,takingin "affection, relationship,memory,
kinship,place,community, emotionalfulfillment, intellectualenjoyment, a
senseofultimatemeaning"(131).Atthesame time,Eagleton'sculture"can
also be too close forcomfort,"evincingan intimacythat"is likelyto grow
morbidandobsessionalunlessitis setinan enlightened politicalcontext, one
whichcan tempertheseimmediacieswith more abstract,but also in a way
moregenerous,affiliations" He
(131). points out thatculture "has assumed a
newpoliticalimportance," butin a criticalmovecomplementary to theone
making,Eagletoninsiststhatculturehas also
thatothercriticsare currently
grown"immodestand overweening" and thatitis hightimethatwe "putit
backinitsplace"(131).In otherwords,hightimefortheretrieval ofthespace
ofthepolitical.
000
If we gatherup thesestrandsof argumentabout the "idea of culture,"we

could set themdown withgreatprofit,I believe,on the terrainof "black
culture"because it seems thatthe latter- never,even yet,an officialcul-
turalentitlementor a bellwetherof the establishedorder- offersone of
themostfruitful sitesthatwould allow thesepositionsto standout in the
boldestof tensions:as an analyticalproperty,black cultureit would be
moreaccurateto say black diasporicculture- is bornin thepenumbraof
the officialculturesthatare historically
emergentat a particularmoment
thatwe could quite rightlycall modernity.But in a veryreal sense the
thatMarcuse singledout as a conditionof culture- thatthe lat-
exclusion
terdemarcatesa universedefinedbya certainkindofsocial formationand
excludedfromit- is actuallypredicatedon its others
what is, therefore,
so much so thatwe can detectno timeof priorityand successionin this
calculusof motives,buta simultaneity
of one and other,thesame and the
difference, throughand through;theresultmightbe analogizedto scotoma
in a fieldofvision,"a blindordarkspotin thevisualfield."10(It wouldprob-
ablynot do to ascribethe individualtraitsof ego to whole social forma-
tions,but it is nonethelessfascinatingto ponderFreudianmeditationson
the scotomousaffectand how plausible [or not] it mightbe in explaining
whatRobinBlackburncalls the"racializedperceptionsofidentity"[Black-
burn 1997,4], emergenton the thresholdof the modernworld system.)
AlthoughAlthusseris addressingthe problematicof readingin his refer-
encesto thevisualfield,hisargumentsseemaptfora widerapplication: "In
thedevelopmentofa theory,"he suggests,"theinvisibleofa visiblefieldis
not generallyanythingwhatever outsideand foreignto the visibledefined
bythatfield"(Althusserand Balibar1979,26), but,rather,the "invisibleis
definedby thevisibleas its invisible,its forbiddenvision" (26; emphasis
speaking,then,thisrelationshipor "economy"does not
Althusser).Strictly
entailan oppositionalprocedure,norevenan adversarialone all thetime,
butidentifiesinsteada splitor an instanceofdecalagein a singlemovement
thatmisperceivesthe conditionsof its own production.What this "blind-
ness" of sightmightlook like practicallyspeakingmightbe describedas
historicalamnesiaat bestor thedisavowalof realityat theworst.In time,
themisprisionor themisperception willcome to standforthetruthofthings
22# TheldeaofBlackCulture
and willbe represented Philosophersof,and commentators

as truthful. on,
theThird-World/ Africanafieldhave arguedthatcommunitiescaughtin
the"blindness"ofWesterncultural"insight"haveexperiencedclearlyhalf
and discursivecareeras a responseto the
oftheirhistoricalapprenticeship
effectsand affectsof the epiphenomenaof "blindness."Meanwhile,the
systematicinquiryintosuch responsehas been named "disalienation":in
theopeningpages of FrantzFanon's BlackSkin, WhiteMasks(1967,10-11);
in V. Y. Mudimbe's invocationof the historicalsignificanceof Presence
Africaine(1992,xxii); and in the complex maneuversof Paget Henry's
Calibans Reason(2000, 1-18),an entireassessmentofwhatMudimbecalls
thetheoreticalarticulationsofa "doublemission"(xxii) is mountedin the
contextofcontemporary reflection.
These thinkerssketch the work of "disalienation" in the case, for
example,of the "Negro of the Antilles,"Fanon's metaphorforthe per-
complex.Mudimbemeditateson the
sonalityof thecolonial-neo-colonial
Africaine, ongoingjournalthatbegan its careeras
creationof Presence the
the principalstaginggroundof "Negritude,"duringthe 1940s in Paris,
when youngwritersand creativeintellectualsfromthe Caribbean and
exploredthedeterritorializations
thesub-Saharancontinenteffectively of
Francophonecultures.The contemporary analystsexaminein theirwork
thehistorians, and fromtheAfricanDiaspora,
critics, activists,originating
who advancetheensembleof protocolsthatcome home undertherubric
Butifwe regardthe culturesin questionas morethan
of Pan-Africanism.
, thenhow mightwe addresstheirintramural
reactiveand defendingagainst
dispositions?
In "OriginaryDisplacement,"NahumChandleradvancesan argument
thatfocuseson the Du Boisian canon, but this extraordinary writingon
theformation ofsubjectnessin thehistoricAfrican-American instancenot
onlylendsan angleon "disalienation,"butessentiallydislodgesthelogicof
ofthetermson whichitis predicated(Chandler
itinthecloseinterrogation
2000). ChandlerarguesfromW. E. B. Du Bois's "double consciousness"
thatAfrican-American formationmightbe generalizednotonlyto
identity
Americanidentities, ingeneral"(251).
as such,butto "modernsubjectivities
Situatinghis own protocolsquarelywithintheprecinctsof contemporary
continentaland post-colonialepistemologies,Chandlerscrupulouslypur-
sues the undoingof "uncriticalpresuppositionsabout African-American
identity, throughtheitinerary
principally oftheconceptofrace(or thecon-
ceptofpurity)thatorganizesit" withinWesterndisciplinesof knowledge
(251). Chandler'sprojecthereincorporatesa readingoftheNarrative
ofthe
Lifeof OlaudahEquiano,or GustavusVassa,theAfrican, Written ,
byHimself
firstpublishedin Englandin 1789.Chandlershowsthatevenunderthemost
extremecircumstanceimaginable,such as the conditionof enslavement,
bothsubjectivation
and subjectivity
occurin relationbetweenparties.Going
fromEquiano's ironicalplacatingof positionsfromproperty-for-another
to propertyholder(which transforms his relationshipto humanothers,as
well as things),Chandlerconcludesthatwe maylook out forEquiano in
theinterstitial
spaces betweenfixedpositionalities,as in Africandiasporic
and European.ButEquiano and hisnarrativeappearin theessayas an exem-
plaryinstance,both in its marginality
withregardto the hegemonand in
itspotentialcentralityin desedimenting
theconceptualcrampthatfixesthe
in
subjectivities place; if,then,Equiano is the"example"and byextension,
theAfricanAmerican,ofAmericanand subjectformationin general,then
we could rightlysaythefollowing:
Hence,totheextentthatthecommitmentofanyinquiry is todevelopthe
mostcomprehensive possible(andeveryinquiry,
understanding whether
underthe headingof scienceor interpretation,is enfoldedfromthe
momentitformulates
a questionina speculative,
andhencephilosophical,
thegood(orbest)example,
discourse), thatwhichmakes"good"theory,
is
the"bad"(ordifficult)
example.(253)
Chandler,is, at once, on thedisciplinaryattack,in pursuitof a close read-

ing,and inquiringintotheconcatenationsofsubjectformation, concerning
himself"Withthesuggestionofthepossibility ofa generaldesedimentation
ofa traditionalconceptualpremisethatorganizestheinterpretation ofthe
AfricanAmericansubject"(255). Bringing
suchpremiseintoquestion"may
assistfurther
in openinga new wayofthinkingthequestionoftheAfrican
Americanor Africandiasporic subject,the implicationsof which might
bearforceon ourunderstanding ofthemodesofconstitution ofanyhistori-

4White'
cal subjectthatmightbe calledAmerican,especially American,and
likewiseforthosewe call modernor place undertheheadingofmodernity
in general"(255). This writingpowerfullymovesthroughthe "example,"
texts,to one
as well as an overviewof certainexemplaryhistoriographical
of Chandler'skeyformulations on thestrength ofthedesedimentiveprin-
ciple- thatis to say,the "figureof the other"- and how it givesrise "in
themovementofitsproductionto thefigureofthehegemon- in thiscase,
to the subjectof whiteness"(257). We are thusconducedto the moment
of the "between"and its closuralforestallingin theshockof thisrecogni-
tion- subjectpositionality"is constructedin relationshipand not before"
(282; emphasisadded). Frommarginto center,fromelsewheretotheplace,
Chandler's "desedimented"subject of historyand criticalinquirynow
names modernityformationitself;the makingto tremble"by dislodging
thelayersofsedimentedpremisesthathold [a conclusion]in place" (257).
In brief,subordinationand dominanceare placeholdersin thisargument
forthemostfragileofarrangements thatare entirely at
open to overthrow,
leastfromtheplace wherethequestionis put.
then,is alreadyimminentin the hegemonicposture
If subordination,
and thehegemonicposturein the subordinate,thereis no longer"black"
or "white" culture,per se, if thereever were, or the power monopoly
impliedin theformulation, but,rather,"onlydifferences of force"(282).
While I acceptthemainlinesof Chandler'stheorizations(whichmyown
writingstendto support),we are stillleftwiththepolitical,historical,and
material"supports"of "difference,"perhapseven its illusory,fantastical
"evidences"thatcome to occupythehistoricalstage.Chandlermaintains
thatDu Bois's example,or Du Bois as exemplaryfigure,is "good to think
with"and thathis "doubleconsciousness"at once answersa generalorder
of cases and "the limitsof the exampleas ensconcedin its particularand
specificcontext"(254). To thatextent,we shouldthinkthat"blackculture,"
whichmightbe establishedas an "example,"mighttakeus backor ahead to
theproblematicofculturein generaland "as such."
It seems, then,that Du Bois and the latter-daytheoreticiansneed
of contextin orderto articulatea generalityof ontological
the specificity
procedureso that,mostgenerously to ourselves,we can bothhaveourcake

andeatit,too.In thatcase,thephilosopher's"disalienation"maywellconsti-
tutea kindofvestibularmomentacrosswhichthreshold"desedimentation"
maydo itswork,and perhapstheintramural dispositionofspecificcultural
on thisdual duelingground- thatis to
projectsand periodsare configured
say,thecomingclose enoughto one's own situatednessin orderto "see" it
(Du Bois's self-reflective
capacity,forexample,whichmarksa movementin
disalienation"and,furthermore,
thetheoreticaland systematic ofa
naming
self-becomingthatis,in turn,movementin "desedimentation").
The diasporic culturesin question, then, have been summoned to
unmaketheconditionsofalienation,simultaneouswiththeactualexploit-
ingtheforceofitin orderto makenew,to bringintoexistencea repertoire
ofpredicatesthatwerenottherebeforeso faras we can see. Sincewe can-
noteasilyseparatetheseimperativesfromeach other,we wouldhaveto say
thatNew Worldblackcultures,as wellas theirparallelformationsin other
partsoftheglobe,are notonlyCreoleformsadoptedfromtheimplements,
both materialand imaginative,of the near-at-hand,
but thattheyare also
"schizophrenic,"ifbythatwe meancompoundedofa dispositionthatcar-
riesbothitsstatement
andcounterstatement, thatwouldbothundoalienation
and constituteitsown standpoint.Itwouldbe fairto ask how thisoutcome
is differentfromotherculturalformations,and the point would be that
it is not,exceptthatthe disalienation/alienation
axis has been violently
inscribedon the narrativesthatblack and diasporicAfricanculturestell
aboutthemselves;in otherwords,blackculturesseemto acknowledgethat,
inthewordsofabolitionistpreacherTheodoreParker,"thearcofthemoral
universeis long,butitbendstowardjustice"(Branch1988,197).In another
sense,we could saythatblackculture,havingimagineditselfas an alterna-
tivestatement,as a counterstâtement to Americanculture/civilization,
or
Westernculture/civilization, moregenerallyspeaking,identifiesthe cul-
turalvocationas thespace of "contradiction,indictment,and therefusal."
It is strikingthatpreciselybecause black culturesarose in the world of
normativeviolence,coercivelabor,and thevirtuallyabsolutecrushof the
everydaystruggleforexistence,its subjectscould imagine,could dareto
imagine,a worldbeyondthecoercivetechnologiesoftheirdailybread,but
thehistoricalpossibilitiessteadilymarksW. E. B. Du Bois's own

meditating
immenselabor of emancipation."Spirit"across thiscanon was both the
retreat,the"oasis," fromthecommercialimpulsesofmainstreamciviliza-
tionat thesame timethatitwas themostintenseencounterwiththereal.
In short,thenotionofhistorical dominatedthediscursivefieldof
possibility
Du Bois'swork,as wellas theentireinterpretive ofblackcultural
enterprise
theorization.Because it was set aside,blackculturecould,byvirtueof the
veryact ofdiscrimination, becomeculture,insofaras, historically
speaking,
it was forcedto turnits resourcesof spirittowardnegationand critique.
Buta crisisis now at hand.
Andhereis theparadox:as blackculturein itscurrentavatarunfolds,it
moveseverclosertowardtheposturethatcomplementsbothdemocratic
principles,at least on the face of it, and the imperativesof neoliberalist
practices.As the"AmericanDream" is also a gleamin itseye,we experience
blacksocial formationtodayincreasingly stressedand struttedtowardthe
"civilization"and thoseintellectualtechnologies,growingdiscreditedand
moribund.As theobjectofDu Boisianand Marcusiananalyses,thesetech-
nologiesbolsterthedangerousregnancyof corporatemedia and supreme
commercialvalue. Hearingthewordsin theirironicecho, one mightwell
ask: whatis thepriceof "Americanization"when one of thelastbastions
of critiquefallsaway? When the imaginedmoralcredibilityof blacknow
translatesintoan enablementof the mostrepressivepracticesamongthe
worlddemocraciestoday?In a sense,ifthereis no blackculture,or no lon-
gerblackculture(because it has "succeeded"),thenwe need it now; and if
thatis true,thenperhapsblack culture - as thereclamationof thecritical
edge,as one ofthosevantagesfromwhichit mightbe spied,and no longer
predicatedon "race"- has yetto come.
NOTES
of"TheBlack
formulation
i. Theprestigious Atlantic" advanced
hasbeenprofitably by
PaulGilroy Brent
(1993); more
Edwards's recentworkprobestheinternal of
algebras
Black traffic
Atlantic of
byway the
artistic
and paths
literary of (2003).
diaspora
2. Translations from theFrench aremine:"Laconstation s'impose denouveau: c'est

au moment où uneculture n'a plusmoyens de se défendre quel'ethnologue ou
l'archeologue apparaisent" (54).
3. BeforeRolfWiggerhaus's Frankfurt School: ItsHistory, andPolitical
Theories Significance
(1995),Martin Jay'sDialecticalImagination: A History oftheFrankfurtSchoolandthe
Institute
ofSocialResearch 1923-1950 (1973) wasoneofthefew, ifany,extant English
studiesofthisschool oftheory andpraxis.
4. "Enfait,cetteregion molleestsilencieusement exploitéeparsoncontraire, le
dur "
5. "Laculture estleterrain d'unnéocolonialism; c'estlecoloniséduxxesiècle.Latech-
nocratiecontemporaine yinstalledesempires, comme lesnationseuropéenes duxixe
siècle
occupaient militairement descontinents désarmés."
6. "Elleestlesymptôme démesuré, cancéreux, d'unesociété partagéeentrelatechnoc-
duprogrès
ratisation économique etlafolklorisation desexpressionsciviques."
7. "Ellemanifeste undysfonctionnement interne: lefaitquel'appropriationdupouvoir
producteur pardesorganismes privilégiés a pourcorollaire undésappropriation et
unerégression du
politiquespays, c'est-à-direl'evanousissment du pouvoirdémocra-
tiquededéterminer l'organisation etla représentation dutravailqu'unesociétéfait
surelle-même."
8. "Làdéjà,danslesecteur culturellessymptômes pathologiquess'accumulent,comme
lesboutons etdesenflures surlescorps."
9. "Ainsilesdéfis etlesrévisions déchirantes liésà lalogiquedudéveloppement favoris-
entà la foisl'ambition dejeunesloups, et
enarquesgestionnaires du réformisme; le
et les
poujadism corporatismes provoqués le
par peur de le
l'insécurité;raidissement
d'idéologiesnéesend'autre temps, oula régression desconservateurs versdeslan-
gagesreligieux auxquels ilsne croient plus."
10. Webster'sThird NewInternational Dictionary, s.v."Scotoma."
REFERENCES
L.;andÉ.Balibar.
Althusser, 1979.
Reading London:
Capital. Verso.
M. K. The Idea.
Asante, 1987. AfrocentricPhiladelphia: Temple Press.
University
T.; L. Grossberg;
Bennett, M.Morris; andR.Williams, eds.2005.NewKeywords: ARevised
Vocabulary ofCulture
andSociety.
Maiden,MA:Blackwell Pub.
L.G.1997-
Berlant, TheQueenofAmericaGoestoWashingtonCity: OnSexandCitizenship.
Essays
Series Q. Durham,NC: Duke Press.
University
R.1997.
Blackburn, TheMakingofNewWorld From
Slavery: the tothe
Baroque Modern,1492-1800.
London: Verso.
T. 1988.
Branch, theWaters:
Parting AmericaintheKingYears, NewYork:Simon
1954-1963.
andSchuster.
M.de.1974.
Certeau, Lacultureaupluriel.
Paris:
UnionGénérale d'Éditions.
N.
Chandler, D. 2000.OriginaryDisplacement,
boundary 2:AnInternational
JournalofLitera-
tureandCulture27,3:249-86.
Diouf,M.;andM.Mboji.1992. TheShadow ofCheik AntaDiop.InTheSurreptitious

Speech
Presence andthe
Africaine Politics
ofOtherness, edited
1947-1987, byV.Y.Mudimbe, 118-
35.Chicago:UniversityofChicago Press.
DuBois,W.E.B.1999.TheSouls ofBlackFolk:Authoritative
Text, Criticism.
Contexts, Ed.H.L.
Gates andT.H.Oliver. NewYork: W.W.Norton.
Eagleton,T.2000.TheIdeaofCulture. BlackwellManifestos.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Edwards, B.H.2003.ThePracticeofDiaspora:Literature, andthe
Translation, Rise
ofBlackInter-
nationalism.
Cambridge, MA:Harvard UniversityPress.
Fanon,F.1967. BlackSkin,WhiteMasks.NewYork: Grove Press.
Gilroy,P. 1993.
TheBlack Atlantic
ModernityandDouble Consciousness.
Cambridge,MA:Har-
vardUniversity Press.
Hegel,G.W.F.1931. LordshipandBondage. InThePhenomenology ofMind,translatedbyJ.
Baillie.
London: G.Allen andUnwin.
Henry, P. 2000.Caliban'sReason:Introducing
Afro-Caribbean Africana
Philosophy. Thought.
NewYork: Routledge.
M. 1973.
Jay, TheDialectical AHistory
Imagination: oftheFrankfurtSchoolandtheInstitute
of
SocialResearch,
1923-1950.Boston:
Little,Brown,andCompany.
Lewis,D. L.1993.W.E.B.DuBois - Biography
ofa Race, NewYork:
1868-1919. H.Holt.
Marcuse,H.1965. Remarks ona Redefinition
ofCulture.Daedalus94,no.1:190-207.
Moreiras, A.2001.TheExhaustion ofDifferencethePolitics
ofLatinAmericanCultural
Studies.
Durham, NC: Duke UniversityPress.
Mudimbe, V.Y.,ed.1992.TheSurreptitious
SpeechPresence andthe
Africaine Politics
ofOtherness,
1947-1987.
Chicago: of
University Chicago Press.
Wiggershaus, R.1995.TheFrankfurt ItsHistory,
School: andPolitical
Theories, Trans.
Significance.
M.Robertson. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Williams, R.1976.
Keywords a Vocabulary
ofCulture NewYork:
andSociety. OxfordUniversity
Press.
. 1979.Politics
andLetters:
Interviews
with New Review.
Left London:NLB.
Zamir,S. 1995.DarkVoices:W.E.B.DuBoisandAmerican 1888-1903.
Thought, Chicago: Uni-
versityofChicago Press.

The Idea of Black Culture - Hortense Spillers

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Idea of Black Culture - Hortense Spillers

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Author(s): Hortense J. Spillers

A RETURNTO THE IDEA OF BLACKCULTUREMUST BE CONSIDERED

perception;and paradoxically,(7) an Afrocentric

and convictionsmay tell us it is, it appears inadequate to the everyday

RaymondWilliams assured the reader some time ago that "culture"is

decide to adopt the termculture,in fullconsciousnessof its accumulated

I supposeI feltthat,forall itsdifficulties,

The editorspointout thatthetermculture,"a deeplycompromisedidea,"

withina nation" (79). (Michel de Certeauarguesin trackingthe birthof

of identity,as Louis Althussersketchedthem? Is it now impossible to

flourishedhis weapon wheneverthe word was utteredanywherein his

"his earlyPuritanupbringing,and his New Englandbeliefin cultureas the

birthdayin 1893.When Du Bois suggeststhat

and itsfatewas to become"thecolonizedofthetwen-

corporation,exemplifiedin the state'sfailureto protecttheprivateprop-

If we gatherup thesestrandsof argumentabout the "idea of culture,"we

and willbe represented Philosophersof,and commentators

Chandler,is, at once, on thedisciplinaryattack,in pursuitof a close read-

bearforceon ourunderstanding ofthemodesofconstitution ofanyhistori-

procedureso that,mostgenerously to ourselves,we can bothhaveourcake

thehistoricalpossibilitiessteadilymarksW. E. B. Du Bois's own

2. Translations from theFrench aremine:"Laconstation s'impose denouveau: c'est

Diouf,M.;andM.Mboji.1992. TheShadow ofCheik AntaDiop.InTheSurreptitious

You might also like