Black Existential Freedom

Afro-Pessimism views black existence through the lens of white supremacy and anti-blackness, while Black Existential Freedom argues that Blackness is not inherently synonymous with victimhood. It presents an existential analysis of African experiences through critical interpretations of music, film, and fiction that portray the struggle for human freedom. The book explores the continuities and discontinuities of black existence and the manifestations and meanings of blackness in different countries, time periods, and social and political contexts, empowering the reader to understand and process racialized identity in a globalized contemporary society.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 170 pages
Publication date: 15 November 2022
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

The history of slavery, colonization, subjugation, gratuitous violence, and the denial of basic human rights to people of African descent has led Afro-Pessimists to view black existence through the lens of white supremacy and anti-blackness. In contrast, Black Existential Freedom argues that blackness is not inherently synonymous with victimhood. Rather, it is inextricably linked to existential freedom and the struggle for political liberation.

This book presents an existential analysis of continental and diasporic African experiences through critical interpretations of music, film, and fiction that portray what it means to be human—to persevere in the tension between life and physical, psychological, and social death—for the sake of freedom. With its transdisciplinary perspective and convergence of Africana existential philosophy, African-American Studies, Afro-French Studies, Diaspora Studies, and African studies, this book is not concerned with disciplinary boundaries or specific appropriations of European metaphysics that are committed to a reading of black "non-being." Black Existential Freedom explores the continuities and discontinuities of black existence and the manifestations and meanings of blackness within different countries, time periods, and social and political contexts.

This book empowers the reader to understand and process the complexities of racialized identity in a globalized contemporary society. Ultimately, it is an ode to human survival and freedom.

Weight: 270g
Dimension: 151 x 229 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538173060