"I Believe in Nothing If Not in Action": African American Humanism and (Embodied) Agency

Authors

  • Alexandra Hartmann Paderborn University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.257

Keywords:

African American humanism, Black humanism, Posthumanism, Agency, Body, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Abstract

This article explores African American humanism and reflects on its relationship with Enlightenment humanism, anti-, and posthumanism. It regards African American humanism as an alternative to these philosophies based on an analysis of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man“ and explores how the novel conceptualizes agency. It does so in focusing on three elements: (1) the rejection of authorities, (2) (dis)embodiment, and (3) relationality and concrete action. 

Author Biography

Alexandra Hartmann, Paderborn University

Alexandra Hartmann has been an Assistant Professor at Paderborn University since receiving her degree in English, Theology, and Sports Science in 2014. She started working on her dissertation that is concerned with African American literature and black humanism at Paderborn University in 2015. Her project explores the impacts a specifically African American humanist worldview has had on the writings by African Americans across different literary periods including slave narratives, literature of the Harlem Renaissance, modernist writings, and contemporary texts. 

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Published

2016-05-14

How to Cite

Hartmann, Alexandra. “‘I Believe in Nothing If Not in Action’: African American Humanism and (Embodied) Agency”. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, May 2016, doi:10.5283/copas.257.

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.