OSP: Paul Gilroy - Diasporic identity

Paul Gilroy - blog task

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can access it online here using your Greenford Google login.

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?

Race’ [is not] the eternal cause of racism [but is] its complex, unstable product. I should probably emphasise at this point that neither race nor racism are the exclusive historical property of the minorities who are their primary victims. (Gilroy, 2004)

2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?

Here Gilroy is saying that racism isn’t caused by race, racism causes race. Racism is not caused by the clash of two or more races – racism is not a natural phenomenon. Instead, Gilroy states that racial difference and racial identities are the product of racial oppression.

3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?

Ethnic absolutism is a line of thinking which sees humans are part of different ethnic compartments

Gilroy is opposed to ethnic absolutism as it is counter to his argument that racism causes race.

4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?

The classic diaspora is the position from which Gilroy develops his concepts of diaspora. The classic diaspora considers the originating place for those displaced as the original source of unity and permanence for the diasporic identity. The means that the country a group have been forced to leave will always be the place that defines the cultural or ethnic identity for those individuals.

5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?

At the time, the dominant representation of black Britons was as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation.” As such, to accept the role of slavery into the cultural identities of Britain would be to challenge the negative stereotype of black Britons at the time, and reverse the “external and estranged” relationship with the nation.

6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?

Diaspora challenges national ideologies, through the commitment and loyalty to the origin nation or place. However, diasporic identities can also become trapped within a national ideology; diasporic cultural ideologies and practices exist within a national ideology based upon its social, economic and cultural integrations and as such there is a cultural difference with the diasporic identities.

7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.

By using social media, they can discuss good and bad representations of their community.

8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?

The modern world was built upon a normalised view of slavery, particularly plantation slavery. Slavery was only rejected when it was revealed as incompatible with enlightened rationality and capitalist production. Gilroy argues that the figure of the black slave of ‘the Negro’ provided enlightened thinkers and philosophers an insight into concepts of property rights, consciousness and art.

9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?

The dominant representations of black males, primarily in the US, is

either a rapper, criminal or gang member, or an athlete. These representations then serve to reinforce the double consciousness of the black male, that he is not anything more than what he sees in the media.

10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.

By having the film focus on black women working for NASA, it closer represents the wide variety of black identities that exist, subverting stereotypes about education and gender politics.