Abstract
In attempting to grasp the relation between people of African descent and same-sexuality, the handful of historians, critics, activists, and social scientists who have touched on the subject have focused on one of two approaches. Either they have attempted to uncloset the lives of famous individuals of African descent who might be suspected of having, at some point, harbored same-sexual desire or engaged in same-sexual activity. Or they have attempted to expose the homophobia at work in the literatures of and histories on African-American life and culture. These works take on the important task of pointing out how evidence of African-American same-sexuality has been suppressed and how, when acknowledged, the admission of black homosexuality tends to be accompanied by distancing anxiety. Such sympathetic treatments of African-American homosexuality most frequently assume an identity schism--as struggle, competition, misalliance--between gayness and blackness. By proving how an individual can belong to both identities at once, they attempt to overcome the paradigm of competing black and gay identities by demonstrating an intersection, interface, or duality between them, a double consciousness not dissimilar from W.E.B. Du Bois's productive theory of a "twoness" at strife in being Negro and American. 1
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.