Discussion Questions- Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

Af Am 20- Discussion Questions – Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk

1.      Consider the theory of Adversarialism taken from Gordon Fellman's article, “Rambo and the Dalai Lama,” State University of New York Press, 1998.

Adversarialism is that approach that sees all of us as alone against the others, that approach that says "I must win," "I must be the best," and ignores the fact that humans are social animals whose cooperative sharing is what produces family, tribe, neighborhood, city, global community.

Re-interpret W.E.B. Du Bois' explanation of the pain of being black in terms of the adversarial paradigm. By re-interpret I mean to look at modern (contemporary) expressions of such theories as Fellman proposes, that our society leans far too heavily towards adversarialism and aggression, and in the process loses much of what we could produce if we considered cooperation and working together collaboratively instead of always competing with each other.

This doesn't mean that Du Bois actually voiced these same ideas in 1903, but it does indicate how such ideas have grown from considerations that he brought forth in this work and his other writings.

2.      Consider the theory of self-determination in light of this passage from The Souls of Black Folk:  "How does it feel to be a problem?" . . .

"I remember well when the shadow swept across me. I was a little thing, away up in the hills of New England, where the dark Haousatonic winds between Hoosac and Taghkanic to the sea. In a wee wooden schoolhouse, something put it into the boys' and girls' heads to buy gorgeous visiting-cards--ten cents a package--and exchange. The exchange was merry, till one girl, a tall newcomer, refused my car--refused it peremptorily, with a glance. Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows. That sky was bluest when I could beat my mates at examination-time, or beat them at a foot-race, or even beat their stringy heads. Alas with the years all this fine contempt began to fade; for the words I longed for, and all their dazzling opportunities were theirs, not mine."

Du Bois was born and educated in the Northern United States. Despite recognition of his intelligence and his intense commitment to learning, he was refused admission to Harvard. He later did get in (the top university in the U.S. at the time) where he was the first Black person to earn a Ph.D.  

            What situations have you encountered that you have had to turn around when it seemed impossible? Describe your inner thought processes and those of others (both for and against you). Then describe your steps to overturn the obstacle, which has changed or perhaps you are still in the process of changing.

3.      Consider theories of inclusion and exclusion besides those based on race.

How does exclusion and inclusion operate in other ways besides racially? Today, we might consider them in much more complex, cultural, gendered and/or global ways.

In Du Bois’ day, in his social setting, Blacks were the primary excluded group. Consider what the young Du Bois was explaining in Souls when he described how it felt to discover that “they" didn't want "him," because "he" was "different."

Cite examples of exclusion and inclusion you have experienced yourself or have noticed in today’s society. Consider how this is part of socialization as "self" and "other." What are ways that exclusion can productively be reversed today?

What were the two consciousnesses that Du Bois had to reconcile? That of an accepted member of the class within the bounds of the classroom. And that of a non-accepted member of the social interaction outside the classroom. (Today, as noted above, we might consider “exclusion” in a much more complex and global light with many players. Or we might consider exclusion locally, such as neighborhood gangs that might exclude some youths right within their own communities or social cliques that might exclude others they do not consider “acceptable” or “attractive” enough. Or we might consider politics, where exclusion takes place of other political parties with differing social and economic ideas.)