Paul Gilroy The Black Atlantic

616 Words3 Pages
Paul Gilroy’s book, The Black Atlantic, is regarded as an influential work that discusses the contectedness of black cultures from the Atlantic coastline in the United States, Great Britain, Caribbean, and South Africa and the impact of displacement, slavery, and mental bondage on the African diaspora. In the book's first chaper, Gilory states, "The black Atlantic as a counterculture of modernity," and supports this notion by borrowing from European and African history to discuss its contributions to the black culture. Gilroy belief of hybrid cultures encourages readers to examine diversity within the races than at the boundary between them. He using a convoluted method to demonstrate that impacts of race is not confined to specific group.…show more content…
He denounces the theory that the black identity to pre-occupied with blacks desire for self-control. He also disagrees with the Euro-American social philosophies that define the scope of modernity. To understand the black culture one must first understand the relevance of the Black Atlantic. He characterizes the Black Atlantic with the slaves who were brought from Africa across the Atlantic against their will to Great Britain, United States, and Caribbean. He asserts that this transatlantic journey is pivitol to development of black culture. Specifically, Gilroy suggests the slave trade allowed blacks to become desensitized to Africa and traditions of the homeland. Additionally, he believes that transatlantic journey produced a commodity exchange, but a cultural exchange as well. Gilroy disagrees with the idea that the beliefs and interests of black subculture are predetermined by their homelands. Unlike notable scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Gilroy contends that there is a common Black Atlantic culture amongst the different

    More about Paul Gilroy The Black Atlantic

      Open Document