Black Nihilism, Racial Capitalism, and the Tradition of Black Radicalism

Abstract

This dissertation offers a philosophical analysis of Black nihilism through the lens of Black existential philosophy, racial capitalism, and the Black Radical Tradition. By Black nihilism, I am referring to the existential condition that leads Black people to conclude that life is meaningless and hopeless, which I broadly term “the absence of meaning.” The absence of meaning has the potential for individual and collective ruination of Black people as seen with the increased rates of Black youth suicides in recent years. The most prominent philosophical literature on Black nihilism focuses primarily on moral values and principles that are meant to make life meaningful and offer moral guidance.

My dissertation argues that Black nihilism is undergirded by the system of racial capitalism that began with transatlantic slave trade. Black nihilism, however, does not represent the totality of the Black experience. There’s a concurrent history that parallels Black nihilism. This history is known as the Black Radical Tradition. The Black Radical tradition began when Black Africans resisted enslavement to retain their humanity, values, cosmologies, and cultural histories. Although the Black Radical Tradition is not a singular entity or tradition, I focus on the current iteration of the Black Radical Tradition which is expressed through the Black Lives Matter movement and modern Black feminism. By framing the problem of Black nihilism in this way, I offer a broader and more inclusive genealogy of nihilism as both a human condition and a philosophical theory.

It might be useful to explain my motivation for developing this project. In the year 2021, I came across a report released by the Congressional Black Caucus that was published in 2019. This report revealed that Black youth suicides, attempted suicides, and suicidal ideation (ages 10-19) are on the rise and have increased faster than youth from other racial and ethnic groups since the 1990s. I was also alarmed by the lack of data, research, and scholarship devoted to this problem. The data and scholarship that currently exist are incomplete, but they highlight how previous scholarships on Black suicides have been ignored. The underlying assumption was that Black people did not kill themselves because Black people are a psychologically unsophisticated race and did not ponder the most fundamental existential questions.Part of my philosophical research is aimed at bringing attention to this understudied area. This is why my dissertation historicizes Black suicides by showing that Black suicide (including ideation, attempts, and planning) have existed since slavery. While no existing data can illuminate the actual number of suicides committed by the enslaved (nor to the prevalence of suicidal ideation, attempts, etc.), I found that slave narratives speak of suicide from the perspective of the enslaved. The wisdom gained from reading these narratives provided me with the philosophical basis for historicizing what can be called “Black nihilism”.

When discussing contemporary Black experience from an existential and philosophical standpoint, it’s conventional for academics and ordinary people to turn to Afropessimist philosophy. Frank Wilderson—the most prominent Afropessimist—asserts that anti-Black racism is foundational to the creation and continual existence of the modern world. Therefore, any form of redemption or liberation of Black people from this anti-Black condition is impossible except for “End of the World” as we know it. The “End of the World” would result in the creation of new categories of identification, new forms of knowledge, and new ways of living in the world. This dissertation offers a different perspective of Black suffering that does not lead to Afropessimistic fatalism or resignation.

This dissertation should be read as contributing to emerging philosophical literature that supplants the association of the word “nihilism” with the European continent. The point is not to dismiss the salience of philosophical literature that is devoted to understanding nihilism in Europe. I only intend to show that nihilism is not exclusively a European philosophical and real-world problem. Overall, this work makes a valuable contribution to the philosophical discipline and giving voice to Black people who may not always have the means or opportunity for bringing attention to their own existential afflictions.