Revisiting Du Bois: The Relationship Between African American Double Consciousness and Beliefs About Racial and National Group ExperiencesKenyon College, Lyubanskym{at}kenyon.edu
University of Pennsylvania This study revisits Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness by examining the relationship between racial and mainstream acculturation and African Americans’ beliefs about their racial and national groups. Surveys completed by 100 prospective Black jurors at a municipal courthouse approximately 6 months after 9/11 revealed that they perceived their racial group as more unjustly treated and more helpless than their national group but believed their national group was more vulnerable and more in need of maintaining a distrustful posture than their racial group. In addition, beliefs about racial group vulnerability, unjust treatment, and superiority were stronger for those respondents more deeply immersed in Black culture, whereas engagement with mainstream culture was unrelated to the strength of these convictions. In contrast, both racial and mainstream acculturation tended to predict beliefs about the American national group in the domains of vulnerability, injustice, distrust, and superiority.
Key Words: acculturation • beliefs • racial • national • double consciousness • vulnerability • injustice • distrust • superiority • helplessness
Journal of Black Psychology, Vol. 31, No. 1,
3-26 (2005) This article has been cited by other articles:
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