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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 idea permeates slave consciousness, according to Gilroy?

2. When was Martin Robison Delany born?

3. What does Gilroy say the language of ethnic opposition typically does?

4. What effect do international corporations have on black musical styles in Gilroy's opinion?

5. What role has music played in debates of modernity according to Gilroy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Gilroy use as opposition to the essential blackness some critics advocate?

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

3. What are the two perspectives around which black artistic debate is centered, according to Gilroy?

4. How does the language of sexuality distract people from their racial identity in Gilroy's account?

5. How does the uniqueness of the black Atlantic experience affect views of race according to Gilroy?

6. How does Gilroy describe the black experience in England?

7. What is the problem with a black identity rooted in skin color for Gilroy?

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

9. Why is Martin Robison Delany important to Gilroy?

10. What group does Gilroy say his book focuses on?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Gilroy celebrates black music for its ability to avoid the monotone discourse that takes place in other parts of black culture. How does Gilroy himself preserve the sound of other voices and perspectives throughout his book?

Essay Topic 2

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

Is Gilroy writing about the black experience, or the modern experience? If the modern self is a fragmented self, do all individuals with self-awareness experience the same double-consciousness? How does Gilroy avoid this universalizing argument, which erases blackness as it universalizes aspects of black consciousness.

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