Norman Ajari 
Darkening Blackness 
Race, Gender, Class, and Pessimism in 21st-Century Black Thought

The concept of Afropessimism does not refer to Black people, but rather to the likelihood of white society overcoming its own negrophobia, and to a radical distrust in white narratives of inclusivity. What if the ideas and reforms we regard as progressive were just the new and shiny face of racism? In the time of Black Lives Matter, the unswerving dehumanization and killing of Black people form the bedrock of our civilization. But a vast anti-Black collective feeling also manifests itself as a more insidious shared unconscious, hidden from view by the doctrines we deem as emancipatory. This book challenges the simplistic and pacifying aspects of current African American thought. It puts forward alternatives to intersectionality, poststructuralism, and radical democracy, which are often prioritized in the Black analysis of race, gender, and class.

Accessible, historically informed, and politically alert, this book offers a critical analysis of the groundbreaking theories and strategies that radically reimagine the future of Black lives throughout the world.

Table of Content

Introduction


Chapter 1 The Sources of the Afropessimist Paradigm

Chapter 2 Theoretical Origins of Afropessimism

Chapter 3 From the Black Man as Problem to the Study of Black Men

Chapter 4 A Politics of Antagonisms


Postface By Tommy Curry


Notes

Index

About the author

Norman Ajari is a lecturer in Francophone Black Studies at the University of Edinburgh.