Read & Revolt: A Very Short Introduction to Afro-Pessimism by Isidore

“A Very Short Introduction to Afro-Pessimism” by Isidore – This was written to be the preface of the book “Afro-Pessimism: An Introduction.” Afro-pessimism is a theoretical tendency that centers anti-blackness as opposed to white supremacy itself, and explores how the concept of the human is made in antithesis of that of the slave. These theorists re-examine the definition of slavery and the social death that accompanies it in order to demonstrate that this society is structured by the social death of black people, that blackness is defined in this way, and it is impossible to eliminate this social death without destroying the foundations of this society.

For September and October we will be trying something new. Up to now, each text we read would not have any connection to the text before or previous. They were nominated and chosen with no theme in mind, and were simply individual texts that we wanted to read and discuss.

What will be different about these upcoming two months is that we have a theme that unites all the readings. The idea is that the conversations we have can build over the course of four readings, since each text is related by theme. We will try this out and see if it works before committing to doing the same thing for November and December.

The theme for September and October is anti-blackness. We will be discussing where it fits in to perpetuating this society, what it does to both those who suffer from it and those privileged by it, and resistance both historically and in present day.

By sharpening our ideas, we hope to better fight against racism and this monstrous society that it is deeply woven into.