Achieving Blackness: Race, Black Nationalism, and Afrocentrism in the Twentieth Century / Edition 1

by Algernon Austin

Overview

Achieving Blackness offers an important examination of the complexities of race and ethnicity in the context of black nationalist movements in the United States. By examining the rise of the Nation of Islam, the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and the “Afrocentric era” of the 1980s through 1990s Austin shows how theories of race have shaped ideas about the meaning of “Blackness” within different time periods of the twentieth-century. Achieving Blackness provides both a fascinating history of Blackness and a theoretically challenging understanding of race and ethnicity.
Austin traces how Blackness was defined by cultural ideas, social practices and shared identities as well as shaped in response to the social and historical conditions at different moments in American history. Analyzing black public opinion on black nationalism and its relationship with class, Austin challenges the commonly held assumption that black nationalism is a lower class phenomenon. In a refreshing and final move, he makes a compelling argument for rethinking contemporary theories of race away from the current fascination with physical difference, which he contends sweeps race back to its misconceived biological underpinnings. Achieving Blackness is a wonderful contribution to the sociology of race and African American Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814707081
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	04/10/2006
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Algernon Austin is Director of the Thora Institute.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface
1 Making Races
2 Asiatic Identity in the Nation of Islam
3 Achieving Blackness during the Black Power Era
4 The Racial Structures of Black Power
5 The Racial Ideology of Afrocentrism
6 Conservative Black Nationalism in the Afrocentric Era
7 Change in Black Nationalism in the Twentieth Century =
8 Making Races, Making Ethnicities
Appendix
Notes Index
About the Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

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“Algernon Austin offers sweeping, occasionally defiant, essays on the state of Black social and political thought. Achieving Blackness will provoke, inspire, irritate, and educate its readers. Austin may well be setting the agenda for a new generation of race theorists.”
-Charles Lemert,author of Dark Thoughts: Race and the Eclipse of Society

“Austin does a magnificent job of advancing the field and pushes the scholarly conversation in exciting and productive directions. Beautifully written, this truly is a groundbreaking piece of work and will have a major impact on the field because it challenges leading theorists and well-established theories of race and difference.”
-David N. Pellow,author of Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago

“This highly informed work addresses a complicated and difficult topic in light of solid research and common sense. It should become required reading for those who are interested in clear definitions and balanced views.”
-Wilson J. Moses,author of Creative Conflict in African American Thought

“This book is engagingly written from start to finish, and, since (Austin) draws upon- and often debunks- views of other scholars, I felt like I was eavesdropping at a symposium which grew heated at times. . . . I also must confess this is the most compelling reading I've done this year.”
-Gerri Gribi,Curator, AfroAmericanHeritage.com

Editorial Reviews

"This book is engagingly written from start to finish, and, since (Austin) draws upon- and often debunks- views of other scholars, I felt like I was eavesdropping at a symposium which grew heated at times. . . . I also must confess this is the most compelling reading I've done this year."

Gerri Gribi

"Algernon Austin offers sweeping, occasionally defiant, essays on the state of Black social and political thought. Achieving Blackness will provoke, inspire, irritate, and educate its readers. Austin may well be setting the agenda for a new generation of race theorists."

Charles Lemert

"Austin does a magnificent job of advancing the field and pushes the scholarly conversation in exciting and productive directions. Beautifully written, this truly is a groundbreaking piece of work and will have a major impact on the field because it challenges leading theorists and well-established theories of race and difference."

David N. Pellow

"This highly informed work addresses a complicated and difficult topic in light of solid research and common sense. It should become required reading for those who are interested in clear definitions and balanced views."

Wilson J. Moses

This highly informed work addresses a complicated and difficult topic in light of solid research and common sense. It should become required reading for those who are interested in clear definitions and balanced views.”
-Wilson J. Moses,author of Creative Conflict in African American Thought

“Austin does a magnificent job of advancing the field and pushes the scholarly conversation in exciting and productive directions. Beautifully written, this truly is a groundbreaking piece of work and will have a major impact on the field because it challenges leading theorists and well-established theories of race and difference.”
-David N. Pellow,author of Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago

“Algernon Austin offers sweeping, occasionally defiant, essays on the state of Black social and political thought. Achieving Blackness will provoke, inspire, irritate, and educate its readers. Austin may well be setting the agenda for a new generation of race theorists.”
-Charles Lemert,author of Dark Thoughts: Race and the Eclipse of Society

From the Publisher