Do We As African Americans Have A Culture?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

Jazz has been recognized as an original music form created in the US, by Black Americans.

You make a good point but I really get tired of people only thinking of music when they think of black people. We have rich intellectual, spiritual, and artistic roots that go along with all that musical creativity.

[AKA_Monet]

DSTChaos,

I have a question for you:

What is the sociological standpoint about referring to "black" people from the African diaspora in the United States?

I ask, because last I remember, there is no Republic of "Black" country/region...

And because people were enslaved from various countries/regions solely based on a "phenotypic variation", then that is why "African Americans" are referred to that way.

Just asking 'cuz I really don't know...

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by 4MYPEOPLE

I think music is the start...jazz, r&b, hip hop...but we have a ways to go to have an established "cultural identity" because we were robbed of it.

Geesh. You're buying into the pigeonholing and brainwashing.

Black folks were doing their own thing before they started dancing a jig. We sang slave "spirituals" and later focused on music for a reason. That reason wasn't because we didn't have anything else to fall back on.

I urge people to actually read up on this subject matter if you think that we're still struggling to find ourselves and that music is the place where "we's black folkses" need to begin.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

DSTChaos,

I have a question for you:

What do the sociologists say about referring to the African diaspora in the United States in reference to "black" people?

I ask, because last I remember, there is no Republic of "Black" country/region...

And because people were enslaved from various countries/regions solely based on a "phenotypic variation", then that is why "African Americans" are referred to that way.

Just asking 'cuz I really don't know...

I hope I'm answering the correct question:

Opinions differ on such matters but I find that sociologists who deal in race and ethnic relations tend not to use "African diaspora" because it mixes different groups of people whereas "African American/black" is a more distinct grouping. When sociologists say "AA/black" we understand we are talking about a people with a distinct history in this nation and with a distinct culture/cultural identity. The strength and traits of the cultural identity is the question, not whether or not there is one.

But when taking a more international perspective and talking about the common struggles of black and brown people all over, "African diaspora" is a common term. It is to say that we all deal with similar struggles--the slave ships just dropped us off at different continents (or didn't pick some folks up at all, they migrated generations ago).

Essentially, it is insulting to many sociologists in the racial and ethnic inequality area to assert that blacks/AA do not have a culture or cultural identity. We should focus on understanding it and strengthening it.

[shinerbock]

I'm glad black people came up with various music, regardless of whether its collaboration from other sources...granted, I hate the music put out by the black community today (most of it), but undoubtedly black culture has influenced music. If we didn't have the southern (mostly irish) and african roots of music, I wouldnt have very much to listen to.

[CrimsonTide4]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Geesh. You're buying into the pigeonholing and brainwashing.

Black folks were doing their own thing before they started dancing a jig. We sang slave "spirituals" and later focused on music for a reason. That reason wasn't because we didn't have anything else to fall back on.

I urge people to actually read up on this subject matter if you think that we're still struggling to find ourselves and that music is the place where "we's black folkses" need to begin.

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.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by 4MYPEOPLE

...it is not suprising to me that we do not have a firm "cultural" identity...

From your entire post where I garnered this one statement, first, somebody has told you a pack of lies. I am not even beginning to joke...

You have "bought into" the concept that African Americans come from a "DEFICIENT" culture.

• Highest criminality rates
• Worst health outcomes
• Lowest academic acheivers
• etc.

What you are "witnessing" is what "they" want you to believe and what "they" want you to buy into... And you have "bought into it" "lock, stock and barrel". You have been "bamboozled", "jacked" and "punk'd".

You need to ANOINT yourself of YOUR history and REVEAL in it: The Good, The Bad and The Fugly... Then, you must not be ashamed of it.

Moreover, you ain't the representative for the "race"--nor as I... Why defend pathetic negroes? And especially, you, without thorough education--spell that Utamaaroho...

Most African Americans do not have a firm "cultural identity" because there has be a blatant extermination of the African (spell that Black, if you need a reference) family structure. The young people have no role models and barely know THEIR history. Moreover, young people have no self-esteem or self-confidence and the support systems absent.

Some of my Pan-Afrikanists friends would say, you need to be "Re-Afrikan Centered".

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

I hope I'm answering the correct question:

Opinions differ on such matters but I find that sociologists who deal in race and ethnic relations tend not to use "African diaspora" because it mixes different groups of people whereas "African American/black" is a more distinct grouping. When sociologists say "AA/black" we understand we are talking about a people with a distinct history in this nation and with a distinct culture/cultural identity. The strength and traits of the cultural identity is the question, not whether or not there is one.

But when taking a more international perspective and talking about the common struggles of black and brown people all over, "African diaspora" is a common term. It is to say that we all deal with similar struggles--the slave ships just dropped us off at different continents (or didn't pick some folks up at all, they migrated generations ago).

Essentially, it is insulting to many sociologists in the racial and ethnic inequality area to assert that blacks/AA do not have a culture or cultural identity. We should focus on understanding it and strengthening it.

Thank you. I was looking for those answers. I do not know how sociologists define a distinct culture/cultural identity.

Research molecular genetic scientists define race based on Genus and species. There is only one race, Homo sapiens sapiens. Variations in the genetic code based on land masses/regions/pestilences are what make "people" look different from one another.

[orighu]

4MYPEOPLE I guess I have a seperate question? Do African Americans only have to have 1 culture? I believe we as a diaspora have many different cultures that are borrowed from other cultures, doesn't that in itself make a culture? How much time needs to past before a firm culture is established?

[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.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Thank you. I was looking for those answers. I do not know how sociologists define a distinct culture/cultural identity.

Pretty much the same as is defined in larger society. Distinct markers that are used to set a group apart from other groups. While there's no such thing as talking, acting, or dressing black we know what things are often attributed to black people. Both the negative and the positive. There's a thin line between stereotypes and valid generalizations.

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Research molecular genetic scientists define race based on Genus and species. There is only one race, Homo sapiens sapiens. Variations in the genetic code based on land masses/regions/pestilences are what make "people" look different from one another.

That's very interesting. Laypersons are too far gone to have this raw conceptualization of humanity. The categorical distinctions that we've (created and) perpetuated for centuries have taken on lives of their own.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

DSTChaos,

I have a question for you:

What is the sociological standpoint about referring to "black" people from the African diaspora in the United States?

I ask, because last I remember, there is no Republic of "Black" country/region...

And because people were enslaved from various countries/regions solely based on a "phenotypic variation", then that is why "African Americans" are referred to that way.

Just asking 'cuz I really don't know...

I know you did not direct this question to me, but I'll answer too. Yes, I do know that DSTCHAOS has already provided a great answer.


While there is no Republic of "Black", as I understand it, when the Spainards (?sp) saw Africans, they called us negro, which translates to 'black' in English.

btw, we (AA/Blacks) have been referred to by many colors. In my grandmother's day, they were 'colored'. When I was born, my parents and I were listed on my birth certificate as 'Negro'. I think referring to myself as African American is just a pc term. I don't disagree with it. I just think calling myself African American is about as specific as someone of known French heritage calling themselves European American. How will that French person differentiate himself from someone who has known German heritage. They are both Europeans, but they each have very different cultures and languages.

I would much rather know the specifc place of origin my ancestors came from in Africa and refer to myself as that. Africa has so many diverse and distinct cultures that to lump them all as one category I feel is kinda useless.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

From your entire post where I garnered this one statement, first, somebody has told you a pack of lies. I am not even beginning to joke...

You have "bought into" the concept that African Americans come from a "DEFICIENT" culture.

• Highest criminality rates
• Worst health outcomes
• Lowest academic acheivers
• etc.

What you are "witnessing" is what "they" want you to believe and what "they" want you to buy into... And you have "bought into it" "lock, stock and barrel". You have been "bamboozled", "jacked" and "punk'd".

You need to ANOINT yourself of YOUR history and REVEAL in it: The Good, The Bad and The Fugly... Then, you must not be ashamed of it.

Moreover, you ain't the representative for the "race"--nor as I... Why defend pathetic negroes? And especially, you, without thorough education--spell that Utamaaroho...

Most African Americans do not have a firm "cultural identity" because there has be a blatant extermination of the African (spell that Black, if you need a reference) family structure. The young people have no role models and barely know THEIR history. Moreover, young people have no self-esteem or self-confidence and the support systems absent.

Some of my Pan-Afrikanists friends would say, you need to be "Re-Afrikan Centered".

Essentially, white liberals and misinformed black people think it adds to "the struggle" to portray blacks as victims of oppression and a stolen identity. Then we are depicted as a lost and confused people who don't know which end to wipe. This makes "white supremacists" happy because they have long argued that we are a deficient people who are easily bamboozled because we lack a sense of identity and brain power. The equivalent of mules who can sing and dance but that's it. They also argued that we don't have a real identity so we will take on whatever identity is given to us without any protest. We need to know that these assertions are not true. If they were true, there wouldn't have been a movement to keep blacks from learning how to read and vote. Why would they care if musically talented mules can read and vote?

The truth of the matter is that we are an empowered people that needs to realize our qualities and power. We realize this on a small scale but fail to realize it on a larger scale. This doesn't mean that racism and discrimination will not exist or that blacks will completely overpower the status quo. It means that we will stop selling ourselves short and also stop allowing white liberals to sell us short.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The truth of the matter is that we are an empowered people that needs to realize our qualities and power...It means that we will stop selling ourselves short and also stop allowing white liberals to sell us short.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The truth of the matter is that we are an empowered people that needs to realize our qualities and power...It means that we will stop selling ourselves short and also stop allowing white liberals to sell us short.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The truth of the matter is that we are an empowered people that needs to realize our qualities and power...It means that we will stop selling ourselves short and also stop allowing white liberals to sell us short.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The truth of the matter is that we are an empowered people that needs to realize our qualities and power...It means that we will stop selling ourselves short and also stop allowing white liberals to sell us short.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The truth of the matter is that we are an empowered people that needs to realize our qualities and power...It means that we will stop selling ourselves short and also stop allowing white liberals to sell us short.

Just want to make sure folks who don't know, will now pursue the reason why they must know...

[DSTCHAOS]

That was my Presidential campaign speech. DSTChaos in 2066. I'll be 89 by then so I won't care about assassination attempts (if there hasn't been a nonwhite and nonmale President by then already).