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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Gilroy say about the realities of black experiences on both sides of the Atlantic?

2. Whose challenges does Gilroy take up in the first section of the chapter?

3. What criticism does Gilroy make of modern racial and ethnic concepts?

4. What does the black person's perpetual searching indicate to Gilroy?

5. How does Gilroy characterize defenders of modernity's attitude toward the African diaspora?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is nationalism's role in the conceptualization of race, according to Gilroy?

2. How does Gilroy propose the concept of the black Atlantic should be used?

3. Why is it odd, in Gilroy's opinion, that debates over modernity have ignored music?

4. What role did music play in slaves' lives according to Gilroy?

5. What does Gilroy say most theorists of modernity focus on?

6. How does Gilroy define the consciousness of the slave?

7. What does the search for black roots indicate to Gilroy?

8. What critique does Gilroy make of the concepts that governed race and ethnicity when he wrote The Black Atlantic?

9. What view does Gilroy say we should take of black experiences?

10. What does Gilroy say British audiences expected from Jimi Hendrix?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Where does black cultural legitimacy come from? The academy or the ghetto? Africa or America? Where does Gilroy claim his legitimacy comes from? How does he counter claims that would challenge his legitimacy?

Essay Topic 2

Gilroy describes Richard Wright's life as part of a global movement of black culture. Is the personal always political for blacks in the black Atlantic? What space does Gilroy set aside for a self separate from politics and race? How would such a space be defined, or protected?

Essay Topic 3

Write a character sketch of the author based on the style and content of his writing. What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

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This section contains 800 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample