OSP: Paul Gilroy - Postcolonial theory and diasporic identity

 Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory:

1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?

He has maintained his position that nationalist ideologies, slavery, colonialism, and consumer capitalism have all contributed to the historical construction of racial identities.

2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?

According to Gilroy, racism produces race rather than race causes racism. Conflicts between two or more racial groups do not give rise to racism; racism is not a natural occurrence. Gilroy contends that racial oppression is the cause of racial identity and difference. Historical disputes that have pitted various communities against one another are what give rise to racial identities. That is not to argue that there were never human differences prior to historical conflicts between various groups; rather, the distinctions between these groupings were not based on "race."

3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?

Ethnic absolutism is a school of thought that holds that race is the primary factor separating people from other ethnic groups. Because ethnic absolutism contradicts Gilroy's claim that racism is the root source of race, Gilroy is against it.

4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?

Gilroy expands on his notions of diaspora. The traditional diaspora views the place of origin of the displaced as the first source of the diasporic identity's durability and unity. The nation from which a group has been forcibly expelled will always be the source of that group's cultural or ethnic identity.

5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?

Black Britons were then mostly seen as "external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation." Therefore, acknowledging the part played by slavery in British culture would have meant rejecting the then-current unfavourable perception of Black Britons and reversing the "external and estranged" relationship with the country.

6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?

Because of their steadfast devotion to their country of origin, diaspora people question national ideology. Diasporic cultural ideas and practises, however, can also become ensnared in national ideologies; as a result, there are cultural differences between diasporic identities and national ideologies, which are based on social, economic, and cultural integrations. 

7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.

Theorist Benedict Anderson mentioned that all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact are imagined. Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined’.

However, in an era of technological advancement alongside print culture, Anderson’s definition becomes more elastic than ever before. No longer does the image of the nation as a bounded community imagined on a larger scale fits today’s world, where it is less clear what the boundaries of national territories enclose or exclude.

Digital diasporas: This is illustrated by the use of the Internet to connect members of diasporic communities–an increasingly significant feature of contemporary global culture. Groups of people are bound together by associating themselves–by birth, past residence, or merely through their identification–with a physical or imaginary‘homeland’. This place is what members of the community have in common–where their roots are, their original home, their sense of belonging, their community

8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?

Gilroy also makes the case that slavery was essential to capitalism and modernity. The normalisation of slavery, especially plantation slavery, served as the foundation for the contemporary world. It wasn't until slavery was exposed as being incompatible with capitalist production and enlightened reason that it was abandoned.

9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?

Because Du Bois described it as "a dreadful objectivity" or "special clarity of vision," being black in the modern world came with a double consciousness. Different groups will have a variety of depictions in the media. These are frequently restricted to certain groups more than others, though. In the US in particular, the most common portrayals of black men are those of rappers, athletes, and criminals or gang members. The black male's double consciousness—that he is nothing more than what he sees in the media—is thereby reinforced by these depictions.

10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.

Since the women are employed by NASA, which dispels stereotypes about black American women, they are portrayed as strong, intelligent, and powerful. It challenges double consciousness by treating everyone equally and refraining from making assumptions about them based only on their background.