The ideology of identitarianism – the reduction of political issues to issues of identity – formed one of the earliest focuses of this blog. Mostly we find this view on the far right, specifically with Trumpism in a U.S. context. But we find a milder, less offensive version on the ‘left’ – in the work of, say, Ta-Nehisi Coates. As I’ve pointed out, identitarianism tends to lead to nihilism. Nowhere do we see that more clearly than in the view called ‘Afropessimism.’
What is Afropessimism?
As a starting point, Afropessimism looks to the book Slavery and Social Death by the sociologist of race Orlando Patterson. Patterson’s work concerns how slavery forms a total institution of control over a person’s life. His work wasn’t limited to American slavery. Rather, it concerned slavery in general. And Patterson himself doesn’t really follow Afropessimism in his work.
Theorists like Frank B. Wilderson III – see his book Afropessimism – argue that the same total domination under slavery still exists in post-slavery societies like the U.S. He argues that humanity itself is defined in terms of anti-blackness. Slavery, on this view, is simply an expression of U.S. society’s hatred for black people. Once it tossed out slavery, it expressed the same hate – to the same degree – in new ways.
I won’t take much time here to argue against Wilderson. I think he’s clearly setting aside the fact that the hate he describes is a result of slavery rather than a cause of it. We see this in, for example, his dismissal of comparisons to white theft of Native American land. And I’ve argued much along those lines elsewhere, as have authors like Ibram X. Kendi.
Rather, I’m using the example of Afropessimism to point to where identitarianism leads when people take it too seriously. This is a few steps beyond, e.g., privilege theory. It lands more as the pessimistic take on Killmonger. When one tries to interpret every political issue as always driven by race, one ends up in a state of paralysis and despair.
N.B.
Aside from the flawed theory it contains, I’d highly recommend Wilderson’s book. It’s mostly an autobiographical work. And he has led an interesting and compelling life. In addition, for more information on specifically Trumpist versions of identitarianism, readers might want to check out my ebook, A Primer on Trumpism!
