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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. Who does Gilroy say DuBois was analyzing in The Souls of Black Folk?

2. How does Gilroy defend Richard Wright against charges of sexism?

3. What does Gilroy say is the result of racial identity?

4. What does Gilroy say modernism relies on?

5. What does Gilroy predict will be the fault line issues for the twenty-first century?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why, in Gilroy's opinion, is tradition useful in modern black culture?

2. What tension did politics create in black culture?

3. What view of the black Atlantic does Paul Gilroy leave us with at the end of the book?

4. What did DuBois conclude from his observations of black culture?

5. What, in Gilroy's account, was Richard Wright's thinking about racial identity?

6. What distinction does Gilroy say Richard Wright holds?

7. How does blackness function in DuBois' writing, as Gilroy describes it?

8. How does Gilroy say the discussion he has had in 'Black Atlantic' is likely to help in the twenty-first century, when Western culture faces challenges over resources and sustainability?

9. What does Gilroy say politics did for black culture?

10. What does Gilroy say DuBois reminded blacks?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an evaluative review of The Black Atlantic. What is this book's place in culture? What are its uses? Who is its audience? What are its limitations?

Essay Topic 2

Black intellectuals have often encountered the difficulty that on one hand they need to show their learning, to prove their legitimacy to white intellectuals, but on the other, too much intellectualism is supposed to alienate them from their blackness. How does Gilroy navigate this treacherous water?

Essay Topic 3

What are we, the readers, supposed to do as a result of reading Paul Gilroy's The Black Atlantic? Does Gilroy propose plans of action, or is he merely informing us? How political is the act of reading The Black Atlantic?

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