The paradox of black patriotism: double consciousness

ABSTRACT

This study explores the double consciousness of black American patriotism in the modern era marked by publicized police killings of blacks, widespread antiracism protests, and concern for racially motivated violence. This analysis provides timely ethnographic insights into black identities that vividly captures black voices; fuses classical and contemporary race theories and extends them into the literature on patriotism; and proposes a model for understanding how double consciousness is negotiated in personal identity construction. I conducted twenty-two in-depth interviews of black Americans. I explored three questions: (1) how they interpret patriotism; (2) whether their interpretations affirm or defy their black identity; and (3) how tensions between race and nation manifest in their patriotic identity development. Many denounced hegemonic patriotism and constructed alternative patriotic brands. These brands are situated on an “Axis of Identities”, which is comprised of four profiles: the bystander, the sycophant, the subverter, and the conscious patriot.

KEYWORDS:

• Patriotism
• double consciousness
• race
• African Americans
• ethnography
• identities

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Drs. Tamir Sorek, Nicholas Vargas, Joe Feagin and Charles Gattone, as well as the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their encouragement and quality feedback. Also, this work was only made possible by the incredible support of Jandy Gu. Thank you.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.