African-American Identity

Term Paper # 105281

African-American Studies
Literature

This paper explores African-American self-definition and development.

999 words () | 7 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the need for a communal African-American identity, with a commitment to acknowledging racism and combating it. The paper looks at the works of Chinua Achebe, Kwame Gyekye and Aime Cesaire who, from different viewpoints, each make a strong call for African-Americans to form a community or family that remembers and reclaims its cultural legacy. The paper explains that claiming membership in a global community of Africans is a way of building a well-grounded and powerful identity that can heal and liberate.

From the Paper:

"The question of the self-identity of African Americans is a complex one. On the one hand, their identity is clear - they are Americans, with all of the challenges and responsibilities that go with this identity in 2007. On the other hand, however, they have a broader identity: their African identity. To some extent, this is true of most Americans - for example, there are many Americans of Irish descent. However, there are two important differences. One of them is that African Americans comprise a visible minority, merely by being clearly and visibly African. The second is that unlike Irish people, millions of Africans today still live in extremely difficult circumstances. Moreover, as famous Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe claims, this is arguably part of the legacy of racism."

Sample of Sources Used:

Achebe, Chinua. "The Duty and Involvement of the African Writer." In Wilfred Cartey and Martin Kilson (eds.) The Independent African Reader. New York: Random House, 1970.
Ani, Marimba. "To Be African" in Burnett Kwadwo Gallman, Marimba Ani, and Larry Obadele Williams (eds.) To be African Volume I, Georgia, M.A.A.T., Inc. 2003
Cesaire, Aime. "The Responsibility of the Artist" Wilfred Cartey and Martin Kilson, The Independent African Reader: Independent African, New York: Random House, 1970
Furusa, Munashe. Literature and Culture.
Gyekye, Kwame. "Communal and Individualistic Values." In African Cultural Values. Ghana: Sankofa Publishing Company, 1996