Swap and Formation of Diasporic Identities in Amiri Baraka’s Theater: from Afrocentric Leanings to a Pan-Africanist Worldview

Abstract

Amiri Baraka embraces authenticity and moves in the direction of Africa. The latter is fundamentally a founding idea that revolves around ancient African culture, rites, and customs. The idea of Africa greatly rests upon Afrocentricity. Afrocentricity accentuates values of freedom and equality. The Afrocentric identity is an all-embracing identity, since Afrocentricity poses itself as a liberatory ideology. Afrocentricity succeeds authenticity, and both coalesce and grow together. Authenticity calls for the restoration and invigoration of one’s cultural features; it requires racial pride and the affirmation of one’s choices and goals in life. Authenticity refers to the genuineness of black ingenuity and the exaltation of the black spirit and originality. It posits that blackness is quintessential and not exotic. It emphasizes essential characteristics and traits. From authenticity via Afrocentricity, Baraka shifts to Pan-Africanism, an idea that links internal struggle with Third World militancy and resistance against colonization and global imperialism. Pan-Africanism is essentially a political ideology, which targets colonialism and imperialism and their respective policies of identity formation. Pan-Africanism thereby enlarges the standpoint from which Baraka looks at contemporary America amid racial turmoil and sociopolitical troubles. The central issue is how Baraka effects this transition from authenticity through Afrocentricity to Pan-Africanism. This article traces back the authentication effort and its links to Afrocentric leanings and Pan-African tendencies in relation to identity formation in select plays, ranging essentially from The Motion of History, Madheart, and A Black Mass. What to retain most is that Baraka frequently swaps ideological blocs, searching to contrive an ever counter-identity.