Any recommended reads on Existentialism from Black thinkers?

[Anonymous No.15648533]

It's Juneteenth, and I'm looking at my wall of favorite authors often categorized as existentialists: Kierkegaard, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Nietzsche, Camus, Abe. They've influenced my thought in such substantial ways, yet they are (mostly) approaching the subject from a common narrative of Western thought (exception: Abe) and male centrism (exception: de Beauvoir).

I would like to broaden my perspective on the matter with experiences and opinions by more authors with different cultural histories, specifically Black and brown people.

Do any of you have recommendations?

[Anonymous No.15648537]

>>15648533
Augustine

[Anonymous No.15648543]

>>15648533
it's fiction but Invisible Man is inspired by a lot of existentialist themes (especially Dostoevsky)

[Anonymous No.15648881]

>>15648537
>black

[Anonymous No.15648936]

>>15648881
>African

[Anonymous No.15649031]

>>15648881
He was from Africa.

[Anonymous No.15649057]

>>15648533
>blacks
>thinking

[Anonymous No.15649080]

James Baldwin (esp. his essays, which are some of the best essays written in the last century period), Richard Wright (Lawd Today! is a brilliant novel about urban life that is rarely talked about) and Ellison (classic, Invisible Man) were all influenced by existentialists. Ellison amd Baldwin both read Dostoevsky.
Great writers all 3.
Also recommend Fanon obviously. Sartre wrote the fucking preface to "Wretched of the Earth" after all.

[Anonymous No.15649093]

>>15648533
He said Black, bud...
>>15648533
Maybe try Richard Wright's Native Son? I heard he into existentialism.

[Anonymous No.15649094]

>>15648537
augustine was nafri

[Anonymous No.15649140]

>>15648543
It’s a damn good novel but it gets a bad association because certain high schools teach it

[Anonymous No.15649153]

>>15648537
Confessions is up there with the Divine Comedy, imo. But St. Augustine speaks from a very Roman/Catholic perspective. Other than the fact that he's from biologically North African, he doesn't really offer "black" perspective.

[Anonymous No.15649606]

No idea, but jam to this track with me one time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9roNGI-8Vs

[Anonymous No.15649625]

>>15649031
So is Elon Musk. Your point?

[Anonymous No.15649634]

>>15649031
Derrida was from Africa too, so what?

[Anonymous No.15649651]

Anyone know who this statue is they're trying to pulldown on woke.net right now?

[Anonymous No.15649672]

>>15649651
>Albert Pike

Literally who?

[Anonymous No.15649684]

Timber!

[Anonymous No.15649726]

>>15648533
Sengor
Aimée Cesaire
Fanon obviously

[Anonymous No.15650070]

>>15649057
well done

[Anonymous No.15650092]

>>15648533
>specifically black and brown people.
There is literally no reason to do so

[Anonymous No.15650107]

>>15648881
Augustine and Athanasius were both black.

[Anonymous No.15650266]

>>15648533
I don't understand. You posted this on Reddit. And got way better responses so why is this here?

[Anonymous No.15650272]

>>15648533
odds op is white lmao

[Anonymous No.15650294]

>>15650266
>And got way better responses
You aren't exaggerating. The quality of answers here is embarrassing, is the "lel reddit" meme just a cope?

[Anonymous No.15650497]

>>15650294
I mean, OP posted this to a subreddit run by academic philosophers. Is it much of a surprise that /pol/ dipshits LARPing as intellectuals give worse answers?

[Anonymous No.15650509]

>>15650294
absolutely we should all leave this place and go to reddit

[Anonymous No.15650512]

no black that has ever written something of note will give you anything more than an essentialized and self-serving view of what it means to be black - precisely because any black that has written anything of note is for all intents and purposes white

[Anonymous No.15650566]

>>15650512
Cope.

[Anonymous No.15650613]

>>15650294
Originally, no. Leddit was truly a cess-pool and in many ways still is. However, it has managed to mature and find a better footing for many, many categories of interests. It has it's flaws to be sure, the karma system being the most obvious and omnipresent. But it does allow for more self-moderation. At one point 4chan was truly the bastion for free speech and free opinion where the moderation only removed completely off-topic content. This made leddit a joke because of its heavy-handed enforced group think of self moderation on top of a layer of actual moderation that could act with impunity and punish wrong-think. However, as it turns out if a problem gets bad enough, for example if one board has a huge influx of anti-intellectuals that feel the need to force their idiocy on other boards, and moderation completely disappears, well it turns out that that is really bad as well. But as far as reddit goes now, many more hyper-focused communities are able to be more lax in their moderation because of the smaller size. The larger subreddits are still as horrible as ever but for specific things such as literary fiction, academic philosophy, existentialism, etc. Those boards are far and away superior to the general interest boards of 4chan.

[Anonymous No.15650627]

>>15650266
>>15650294
>>15650497
>>15650509
>>15650613
Can one of you link me to that subreddit. This place is only good for memes.

[Anonymous No.15650628]

>>15650566

not at all boy i'm just speaking the truth. there is no authentically black instance of literary self expression, at least not by any prominent writer.

do you seriously think fanon, who went to an expensive prep school and later studied at university in france at a time when maybe 5% of the French population itself was college educated, do you seriously think his takes on what it means to be the average fucking poor black are in the slightest bit genuine? and not fueled primarily by ressentiment? in particular of a sociosexual nature? come on bro

[Anonymous No.15650688]

>>15650628
While I can't help but feel as though your opinion is coming from a place of prejudice I can't help but agree with your general point. A bourgeoisie Frenchman who happens to also be Black would have no cultural relation to the slave class of Black Americans who would be relevant to Juneteenth. However, insofar as the OP is looking for Black existentialists he could look into Fanon's influences and contemporaries even if they do not relate to Juneteenth. I think it's purely based on his ultimate goal.

Also, just saw Fanon died in Bethesda, a place I frequently visit within an hour of my home. Fascinating.

[Anonymous No.15650700]

>>15650688

he was an avowed insecure neurotic dude. he felt intellectually and sexually oppressed in France and lashed out about it. he has more in common with elliot rodger than george floyd

[Anonymous No.15650701]

>>15650700
Also fascinating. I may have to look into him.

[Anonymous No.15650710]

>>15650266
Not one recommendation in that thread is actually worth reading. No one here has recommendations because everyone instinctively knows that OP's question can't be answered. Educated non-liberal whites have absolutely NOTHING to gain from black "thinkers." Existentialism is garbage for non-thinking whites on top of this.

[Anonymous No.15650715]

>>15650628
Frederick Douglas and WEB DuBois

[Anonymous No.15650716]

>>15650710
>>>/pol/

[Anonymous No.15650727]

>>15648533
read something that isn't a bunch of monkey scribbles

[Anonymous No.15650752]

>>15650716
Just because this is /lit/ doesn't mean you have to read trash. The thinking man's game is called quality over quantity. The term sage is etymologically related to the Greek word sapere, which means I have taste, I have wisdom.

[Anonymous No.15650781]

>>15650715

Douglass is a legitimate authentically black legend I agree

WEB DuBois had privilege beyond most white americans of his day

But this is the ultimate conundrum, right? insofar as capital-b Blackness as an essential cultural manifestation of the lived black experience is defined as negative in binary opposition to a white standard it will forever automatically stifle authentic self-expression from within the black community because to achieve literary prominence will by definition both require of and bestow upon the black intellectual a 'whiteness' that alienates them from their authentic blackness

that's why theorizing about racism in a resentful way is kind of pointless, especially by colored people of privilege.

anyway at the end of the day its all about CLASS anyway. real black culture is rap culture. depraved worship of the material. that's an authentic manifestation of a desperate and weary people

[Anonymous No.15650796]

Maybe because existentialism is specifically a narrative of Western thought and incongruent with other lineages? 'Black thinkers' means African Americans moreorless indistinguishable from other Americans, in other words generic Westerners. So you want to reinforce the same shit but you need the author to have dark skin?

[Anonymous No.15651385]

>>15650613
>block of nothing to say
Go back

[Anonymous No.15651393]

Compare the results ITT with https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/hc2ba2/any_recommended_reads_on_existentialism_from/

[Anonymous No.15651551]

>existentialism
>niggers
>french 20th century >intellectuals apart from Ellul and Maritain
yeah, you might wanna take this one to reddit

[Anonymous No.15651588]

>>15651393
Fuck. Are we the retards?

[Anonymous No.15651599]

So am I missing something or does existentialism just mean any thoughts at all on the nature of existence. Isn't that just philosophy?

[Anonymous No.15651692]

>>15650716
>>>/lgbt/

[Anonymous No.15651826]

>>15648881
>>15648936
>>15649634
>>15649625
Are you all retarded? Augustine was a Berber. He was neither black nor white.

[Anonymous No.15651851]

>>15651393
Wtf... they are actually discussing literature? They are actually talking in depth? No infestation of drooling /pol/tards? No racebaiting? This is quite surprising.
I come to /lit/ for the rare moments when we have good discussions like this. But it turns out this is just the fucking norm on other sites? Wow, it’s honestly like stepping out of Plato’s Cave. I’m leaving /lit/ now, and 4chan, forever. Cya faggots!

[Anonymous No.15651858]

>>15651851
Please don't come back retard

[Anonymous No.15652118]

>>15651599
Yes, that is just philosophy, and yes, existentialism as a label is retarded. The Greeks were just as concerned about the nature of existence and their responsibility and role within the universe when crafting the pantheon as the French were when contemplating their degenerate sex adventures. People have a hard time grasping certain words so they feel the need to create new words for old concepts periodically.

[Anonymous No.15652211]

>>15652118
Ok thank you. I was about to start asking what a non-existentialist black philosopher looks like but I see thats not needed.

[Anonymous No.15653023]

>>15651851
Based
>>15651858
You'll miss him.

[Anonymous No.15653320]

>>15650266
You were on reddit

[Anonymous No.15653393]

>>15650627
https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/hc2ba2/any_recommended_reads_on_existentialism_from/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
>>15653320
U caught me

[Anonymous No.15653436]

In today's news, /lit/ finds out it's only good for the rare 300 IQ posts and the ability to say almost anything plus that tribalism is retarded with regards to websites

[Anonymous No.15653748]

>>15653393

Whoever said this reddit thread is better than this thread is retarded. This reddit thread is soulless bug academic bull and the same important thinkers get mentioned. At least the anons in this thread had hot takes.

[Anonymous No.15653799]

>>15651851
Probably because you'll get banned if you say anything out of line.

[Anonymous No.15653866]

>>15653748
>Coping this fucking hard
Lord

[Anonymous No.15654111]

>>15653866

What would I possibly be coping about, retard? I go on reddit more than I go here. I'm just stating facts

[Anonymous No.15654179]

Is Fanon really worth reading? The impression i get is that he was just the pet nigger of French intelligentsia who spend most of his career trying to justify his hatred for whitey while also claiming some moral or theoretical justification, and then when he couldnt find out to justify his hate that way, he just said that they didnt need moral justification for their hate. You can easily appropriate this form reasoning if youre a nazi as well.

[Anonymous No.15654187]

>>15654179
>justify his hatred for whitey
it's actually much worse, everything he writes is just justifying for Haitian superiority over French Continental blacks

[Anonymous No.15654193]

>>15653393
>Top comment is from a tranny communist
Is reddit really this much of a caricature of itself?

[Anonymous No.15654197]

>>15654111
I said it was better and posted the link. The Reddit thread has like three times as many answers and you don't have to wade through any /pol/ shit. Cope harder.

[Anonymous No.15654207]

>>15654187
>Haiti
>Superior to anything
breh their national dish is dirt

[Anonymous No.15654224]

>>15654197
Having a brain isn't /pol/ shit. There's less answers here because the authors being requested are as redundant as the Japanese existentialists

[Anonymous No.15654227]

>>15651826
>Augustine
>not black

[Anonymous No.15654260]

>>15650710
>Existentialism is garbage for non-thinking whites on top of this.
pretty much

[Anonymous No.15654281]

>>15654197

jesus you are are a retard

[Anonymous No.15654444]

>>15654179
No, Black people who hate White people but don't have the balls to actually make their own country are just privileged crybabies. They have nothing of merit to say or think.

[Anonymous No.15655716]

Reminder that Fanon was on the CIA's payroll

[Anonymous No.15655963]

>>15654281
Oh shit good one man. Got my ass.