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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. How does Gilroy characterize the slaves' literacy?

2. What was Martin Robison Delany searching for?

3. What is the effect of collaboration according to Gilroy?

4. What idea does Gilroy say black consciousness forces us to revise?

5. When were the Fisk University Jubilee Singers performing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What criticism does Gilroy make of Enlightenment universalist claims?

2. What is the Fisk University Jubilee Singers' contribution to Gilroy's book?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

At the end of The Black Atlantic Paul Gilroy describes the challenges facing Western culture in the future. How is race related to these challenges, and do you think that this broadening of scope is a fitting gesture to close on? Does it cement Gilroy's narrative, or does it step aside from it?

(see the answer keys)

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