Rewriting a Rewritten Past

The Modern Era was the age which had laid the foundation for the present, one could argue this had begun with the age of enlightenment. However the exact starting point is irrelevant, more importantly this age was embodied as giving birth to scientific method as a result of the classical revival, the revival of the so called great civilization of Greece. As Gordon points out with his quotation of Hegel, Western Modern thought was deeply rooted with Anti-Blackness, as well as failing to discuss issues of gender and sexuality. Using Antonio Gramsci’s definition of hegemony, the consolidation of rule through coercion and consent, Modern thought with its emphasis on scientific truths combined with the underlying theme of Anti-Blackness has served to promote Western if not White Supremacy in the vast majority of the world, thus generating consent of rule. Many works have come out as a critique of Modern thought such as various writings by Michel Focoult, Jaques Derrida, and Franz Fanon. These writings have been labeled as Post-Modernist works, though Fanon would mainly fit into the Post-Colonial category as it applies Post-Modern thought to a critique of colonialism. Martin Bernal’s Black Athena rekindled a long standing debate about the significance of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece because it deconstructs the Modern notion of the conception of civilization.

Fanon argues that Anti-Blackness arises from the “sociogenic” dimension of the situation, which refers to the role of human institutions in the constitution of what human beings regard as “natural” in the features of social life. In the denial of Africa as the cradle of civilization and instead the promotion of Greece and the West as the birth of civilization, there is an implication of White/Western Supremacy as being natural; that it always was this way, that it was meant to be this way, and that it always will be. In another contemporary context this sociogenic situation fuels attacks on Cultural Studies by feeding claims that the West is the only place where anything that mattered occurred. Thus Black Athena aims at the crux of the argument posed by the Western Supremacist.

A point was made in the film by a critic of Bernal that his work has the opposite effect of promoting Whites rather than Blacks by arguing Bernal favors Western thought though merely wishes to give credit to Blacks. By implying the superiority of Western thought, Bernal’s work leaves an impression of the goal of Blacks laying claim to what is considered Whiteness. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire writes that an oppressed people’s ideal is to be human, but their sociogenic situation leads them to believe to be human is to be what their oppressors are, which could also be described as the poststructural parlance of the black chasing the signifier in hope of becoming the signifier. However, Fanon writes: “A total retreat from Western rationality as rationality leads to a glorified blackness that inevitably realizes its self-deception: An essentialized blackness that intensifies white hegemony.” Fanon goes on to say: “Let us decide not to imitate Europe but combine our muscles and our brains in a new direction. Let us create the whole human being, whom Europe has been incapable of bringing to triumphant birth.” Therefore, the goal of a true Anti-Racist is to seek liberation not just for the oppressed, but the oppressor as well and ultimately create that whole human being.

4/26/05

--

comments from jollene:

1) are we living in a time where Western Modern thought is no longer deeply rooted with Anti-Blackness?

2)here is where i think post-modernism is basically impossible. how are we to start right at the beginning w/o a past? i dont think that erasing the past is the answer to creating a just future. i think revolutions are contingent on the fact that peoples are able to finally write and interpret their own histories. i think "moving beyond the modern era" is impossible materially at this point when we are barely realizing our own past and ignorant of our present (outside of our own experience in an imperialist country). what do you think?