Strange Encounter of the Third Kind

W. E. B. Du Bois, C. L. R. James and Western Civilisation

Authors

  • Hess Andreas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/serendipities.v4i1.123386

Keywords:

W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James, Marxism

Abstract

In this paper the author takes issue with the notion of the Black Atlantic as discussed by the British scholar Paul Gilroy. While sympathising with the overall perspective it criticises Gilroy's uncritical, almost iconographic, approach to black intellectual celebrities such as W. E. B. Du Bois and C. L. R. James and particularly their discussion of Marxist tropes and communist politics.

References

Benjamin, Walter (1935) Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, in: Walter Benjamin (1961) Illuminationen, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 148–184.

Buhle, Paul (1988) C.L.R. James. The Artist as Revolutionary, London/New York: Verso.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1896) The Suppression of the African Slave Trade, reprinted in: W. E. B. Du Bois (1986) Writings, New York: Library of America.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1899) The Philadelphia Negro, Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1920) Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil, New York: Harcourt Brace.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1940) Dusk of Dawn: An Essay toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept, reprinted in: W. E. B. Du Bois (1986) Writings, New York: Library of America.

Du Bois, W. E, B. (1953) On Stalin, reprinted in: David Levering Lewis (ed.) (1995) W. E. B. Du Bois – A Reader, New York: Henry Holt.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1968) The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois, New York: International Publishers.

Gilroy, Paul (1993) The Black Atlantic, London and New York: Verso.

Gilroy, Paul (1993) Small Acts, London: Serpent’s Tail.

Grimshaw, Anna (1992) The C.L.R. James Reader, Oxford: Blackwell.

James, C. L. R. (1937) World Revolution 1917-1936, London: Secker and Warburg.

James, C. L. R. (1938) The Black Jacobins, London: Secker and Warburg.

James, C. L. R. (1963) Beyond a Boundary, London: Paul and Hutchinson.

Lewis, David Levering (1993) W. E. B. Du Bois – Biography of a Race, New York: Henry Holt.

Lewis, David Levering (Ed.) (1995) W. E. B. Du Bois – A Reader, New York: Henry Holt.

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Published

2020-12-15

How to Cite

Andreas, H. (2020) “Strange Encounter of the Third Kind: W. E. B. Du Bois, C. L. R. James and Western Civilisation”, Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 4(1), pp. 49–59. doi: 10.7146/serendipities.v4i1.123386.

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2019): Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences

Section

Forum

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