Do We As African Americans Have A Culture?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by CrimsonTide4

Soror can you list some titles that would be helpful in this area for us to read? I would be interested in reading more. I took some sociology courses in undergrad but none that dealt specifically with US.

I am just an observer in this thread, although I wholeheartedly believe that African Americans/Blacks have a strong cultural identity in several facets.

This is not an exhaustive list b/c this is just from the "top of my head" so I encourage people to add to it:

1. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2001) White Supremacy and Racism
2. Cultural deficiency theory which believes that the "lower social status" of blacks and Hispanics signifies the cultural inferiority of these groups (who are disproportionately involved in criminality and poverty). This would mean that these groups actually HAVE a culture or practices that are common enough to be called a (deficient) "culture."
You can read more about this in Bonilla-Silva Racism Without Racists (2003) and Reed (1990) "The Underclass as Myth and Symbol." Radical America. 24: 21-40.
3. Any of John Hope Franklin's work, including "Ethnicity in American Life: The Historical Perspective." in John Hope Franklin, ed., Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988.
4. Milton Gordon "Assimilation in America: Theory and Reality" Daedalus.
5. W.E.B. DuBois (1973) The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906-1960 Edited by Herbert Aptheker.
6. David Levering Lewis (1993). W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a Race 1868-1919.

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

This is not an exhaustive list b/c this is just from the "top of my head" so I encourage people to add to it:

1. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2001) White Supremacy and Racism
2. Cultural deficiency theory which believes that the "lower social status" of blacks and Hispanics signifies the cultural inferiority of these groups (who are disproportionately involved in criminality and poverty). This would mean that these groups actually HAVE a culture or practices that are common enough to be called a (deficient) "culture."
You can read more about this in Bonilla-Silva Racism Without Racists (2003) and Reed (1990) "The Underclass as Myth and Symbol." Radical America. 24: 21-40.
3. Any of John Hope Franklin's work, including "Ethnicity in American Life: The Historical Perspective." in John Hope Franklin, ed., Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988.
4. Milton Gordon "Assimilation in America: Theory and Reality" Daedalus.
5. W.E.B. DuBois (1973) The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906-1960 Edited by Herbert Aptheker.
6. David Levering Lewis (1993). W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a Race 1868-1919.

DSTChaos, you have studied these issues for much longer than me, so please feel free to disagree with any of my suggestions, but these are some books I've found to be good that are related to this topic (they're all from a more historical/cultural studies perspective):

The "Racial" Economy of Science. Editor: Sandra Harding. (AKA_Monet & others of you in science & tech fields, if you haven't read this, you might really like it.)
Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge. Editors: Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic.
Critical White Studies. Editors: Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic. (This one is pretty interesting; it's a collection of articles & essays looking at what "whiteness" means in the context of race theory.)
Racial Formations in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. Authors: Michael Omi and Michael Winant.
White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812. Author: Winthrop D. Jordan. (The "classic" text.)
Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism. Author: Reginald Horsman.

[CrimsonTide4]

Thanks Sorors for the titles! I might not read them all but I think it is valuable to have some titles that explore OUR culture.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by CrimsonTide4

Thanks Sorors for the titles! I might not read them all but I think it is valuable to have some titles that explore OUR culture.

It's also important to note that some of these articles and books can found on-line, in book reviews published in refereed journals, and/or in readers. This allows people to read up on this subject matter without devoting their career to reading all of these titles.

One reader that I suggest is Adalberto Aguirre, Jr. and David V. Baker. 1998. "Sources: Notable Selections in Race and Ethnicity." 2nd Edition. This reader is where excerpts from John Hope Franklin and Milton Gordon can be found.

[Wolfman]

Part of the problem is the theoreical category confusions that go along with a discussion of this sort and one of nomenclature.

In a sense, what some people identify as "culture" can better be subsumed under the term subculture. There are many black subcultures which one identify with. For example, some people identify black culture with urban, so called "ghetto" subculture. My late grandma, who was born in the 19th cent., didn't identify with urban black subculture much, she was a rural, Southern black woman. When I was small I used to stay with her on Sat. nights sometmes and she would always watch her favorite TV show: Hee Haw.This was closer to the black culture she knew and understood.

[mulattogyrl]

I love this thread. I can't think much deeper right now because I'm hungry, but I think African-Americans have a rich culture. I also agree with what some posters said about sub-cultures. I think there are various sub-cultures within our culture as well. Heavy intellectuals please carry on.

[ladygreek]

This is a great discussion. And I knew my daught would be a major contributor.

Just to lighten it up a bit--I am the only African American in an office of ten people. Every two weeks we have a staff meeting where a person is designated to bring food. It is a social services nonprofit and I am the only non-social worker.

My professional cultural shock in working in this environment was the "feelings" thing--staff meetings become emotional, and feelings get hurt very easily.

My race/ethnic cultural shock was the food. I have never eaten so much bland food in my life that eveyone else though was great. And of course here in Minnesota--Norwegian Country--the hot dish is king. Will someone please tell them that macaroni and cheese is NOT an entree! LOL.

[pinkies up]

^^^^LOL. I think being a black person in the South is a different subculture in and of itself. Black people (African American) have sort of lost what made us great. Why do you think that we have subjected ourselves to lower standards than the generations before us? Also, who do you guys think are the new black leaders?

[Wolfman]

Another caveat:context means a lot in discussions of culture. In actuality, in terms of the elements that make up "culture," a set a of woldview narratives, a characteristic social praxis, cultural symbols,etc. groups that we seem to have different and opposing cultures (thinking of black-white binary in this society),actually share much of the same "culture" symbols. In fact this is what makes the tensions so great at times:there are different construals of the same metanarratives and cultural symbols (eg, over history of race and development of America, the Bible, economics,etc.) For many African Americans, we only discover how "American" we actually are only when we are in a different culture. This can be disconcerting when we discover this reality in another Afro-culture or abroad. Then you get identified as an American,a black American. This is a complex reality but it makes you really thing about your something you take for granted here in different way.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Why do you think that we have subjected ourselves to lower standards than the generations before us?

We don't have lower standards than before. We've just allowed the ignorant to overshadow the plethora of non-ignorant. There have always been the ignorant but previously we had informal social control that kept the community in order and told the idiots to sit down and shut up.

By "ignorant" and "idiot" I'm not talking about the poor. I'm talking about anyone who uses excuses and wallows in negative circumstances. Black people have traditionally been working poor and there was a segment of middle to upperclass. But regardless of the social class, we were always taught to be a prideful and hardworking people. Those of us who remain prideful and hardworking need to be at the forefront.

Sidebar: And, no, I don't believe that all of the images on BET are negative as some people believe. The negative part is the lack of balance between the BET images and other images of blacks. Everyone's looking for ONE THING to blame and fix but there isn't just one thing.

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Also, who do you guys think are the new black leaders?

We don't have or need "black leaders."

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

This is a great discussion. And I knew my daught would be a major contributor.

Just to lighten it up a bit--I am the only African American in an office of ten people. Every two weeks we have a staff meeting where a person is designated to bring food. It is a social services nonprofit and I am the only non-social worker.

My professional cultural shock in working in this environment was the "feelings" thing--staff meetings become emotional, and feelings get hurt very easily.

My race/ethnic cultural shock was the food. I have never eaten so much bland food in my life that eveyone else though was great. And of course here in Minnesota--Norwegian Country--the hot dish is king. Will someone please tell them that macaroni and cheese is NOT an entree! LOL.

Hey mama.

I would probably like that food. My family's eating habits are very diverse. Matter of fact, I tend to stay away from traditional "Southern" foods because of the excessive fat and seasoning. When I cook soulfood, it's always a different version than the original. I was told that I cook like a "white woman with soul." I've even tried to go to "hole in the wall" soulfood places and gotten crazy looks over my requests to have my meal specially made.

<----fav food is Greek food

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Hey mama.

I would probably like that food. My family's eating habits are very diverse. Matter of fact, I tend to stay away from traditional "Southern" foods because of the excessive fat and seasoning. When I cook soulfood, it's always a different version than the original. I was told that I cook like a "white woman with soul." I've even tried to go to "hole in the wall" soulfood places and gotten crazy looks over my requests to have my meal specially made.

<----fav food is Greek food

LOL. But hot dishes tend to be high in fat, with NO seasoning. And I am not talking just about salt--I am talking about the other seasonings like black pepper, garlic, onion, etc. tha make a dish good without too much salt. The food they bring in is not healthy, just tasteless.

I love Greek food, too.

[mccoyred]

I believe that we as Blacks (I prefer that term as opposed to AA as explained in other threads on this board) have a very rich and comprehensive cultural identity. Not only do we have traits that originate directly from various parts of the Continent but we have also taken aspects of other cultures ENHANCED them and made them distinctly our own. Every culture borrows from others but I think our creativity (just look at our cultural contributions to American English, for example) showcases some of the talents of our people.

[ladygreek]

I so agree with Chaos' Black leaders comment. BTW who are the White leaders?

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

I so agree with Chaos' Black leaders comment. BTW who are the White leaders?

Re: black leaders, white leaders, any racial leaders - it seems to me the question is always going to be leaders of what? Are we talking about political leaders, religious leaders, or what? Just leaders of the whole race as a block? And if so, leading the block toward what exactly?

This reminds me of a class conversation from a couple years ago re: today's black cultural role models. People were upset because there were not a lot of good role models for young people. Then someone brought up that there aren't really any good role models for young people of any race. It's kind of the same for leadership in this country, IMO.