Reconstructing black identity : the Black Panther, Frantz Fanon and Achilles Mbembe in conversation
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Date
Authors
Beyers, Jaco
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS Open Journals
Abstract
It is dehumanising to identify people in terms of colour. Stereotyping and discrimination come
with racial identification. Black identity has been expressed in different forms over the centuries.
For a long period black identity was a constructed identity assigned to black people through a
white-dominated matrix. After the end of slavery, efforts were made to reconstruct black identity.
This developed into two divergent lines: one resulting in an illusionary identity as identified by
Frantz Fanon and a second line of thought of a continued search for a true authentic black
identity as explicated by the Cameroon-born philosopher Achilles Mbembe. This process of
creating a new authentic black identity is still ongoing and viewed by some as a pessimistic futile
attempt. An example of the ongoing attempt for establishing an authentic black identity is
illustrated by the movie Black Panther, which attempts to portray a different side of being black.
Description
This research is part of the
research project, ‘Religion,
Theology and Education’,
directed by Prof. Dr Jaco
Beyers, Programme Manager:
Biblical and Religious Studies
and member of the
Department of Science of
Religion and Missiology,
Faculty of Theology and
Religion, University of
Pretoria.
Keywords
Black identity, Culture, Race, Religion, Mbembe, Fanon, Black Panther, Postcolonialism
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Beyers, J., 2019,
‘Reconstructing black
identity: The Black Panther,
Frantz Fanon and Achilles
Mbembe in conversation’,
HTS Teologiese Studies/
Theological Studies 75(4),
a5469. https://DOI.org/10.4102/hts.v75i4.5469.