Week 2 Question

The argument that Asante makes about Blackness is that people of African descent should understand that their heritage, culture, and history of where they came from is all important in shaping who they are today. Now with all that said, it does not mean that the eurocentric view did not in some ways shape people's culture and history over time, it just means that people should not ignore this afrocentric view. People of African descent should be realized as subjects and not objects in their role in history. They should be proud of where they come from and not try and cover this up with the widespread eurocentric view.

Bell Hooks article about post modern blackness talks about how people should not ignore the plights of many black people that have been dislocated from power. The examples that are given of are women and how black women are often ignored in their struggles in black history and are not given as much credit as they may deserve in shaping black history and the black experience. The article talks about how there are many factors that we cant ignore when looking at black history, and how each person has their own history and experience. Just because someone is categorized as "black" does not mean that they all come from the same experiences and same cultures.

Cornell Wests, "The new politics of Difference", also talks about how there are many influential factors that have impacted black history and that these should not be over looked. These include class, gender, and sexualities among others. Black history has been influenced by many of these over time and we as a people cannot assimilate these and not take into account others.

Halls article also trys to make the point that ethnicity involves many different histories and cultures and we should understand that black identity is varied and cannot be described easily. People from all races should not be categorized into one group assuming that they all have the same historical, cultural, and political experiences. These representations can lead into stereotyping and over generalizing. By following these stereotypes, it limits people to one mindset, which is naive.

I feel that some of these readings (Hooks, Hall, and West), although making distinct points, seemed to tie into each other. This made it hard for me to understand and see the differences between these articles. I really liked the Asante essay, because I felt that some people of African descent may have lost sight of their history and culture to a majority eurocentric view over time. Although nowadays, people may be looking into their history and culture and really appreciating where they have come from and where they are planning to go in the future. Overall, all pieces gave me a better understanding of how ethnicities and cultures are very complex and that we should always focus on all the elements that played apart in creating our history, and never ignore some.