Prof. Acharya
UCOR 2500
Cornel West ( http://www.cornelwest.com/ ) is one of the most provocative thinkers in
America today. In this essay, West isolates and describes the problem of “nihilism” in the
African American community, and the failure of contemporary politics – both right and
left – which is unable to address this problem. West argues that appropriately responding
to nihilism is the key to the liberation of Black America (and arguably of America as a
whole).
Discussion questions on Cornel West’s Nihilism in Black America
1. How does West characterize the liberal and the conservative positions in the
debate about the plight (and the appropriate response to this plight) of African
Americans?
2. Explain West’s critique of both the liberal and conservative positions. What is
the one major issue pertaining to the situation of black folks in America, that
neither the conservatives nor the liberals dare to confront?
3. What are the reasons why the liberal structuralists fail to grapple with the
threat of nihilism, and what are the reasons why the conservative behaviorists
do not wrestle with this same issue?
4. How does West define and describe the threat of nihilism that pervades black
communities in America today?
5. What kinds of buffers were in place in earlier times in black communities,
which warded off the threat of nihilism?
6. What are the two reasons, according to West, why the cultural structures that
once sustained black life in America are no longer able to fend off the
nihilistic threat?
7. Describe the hedonistic principles of the “market morality” that saturates
American society today. How has this morality affected black communities?
8. In what way has white supremacist beliefs and images permeating American
society contributed to the development of black existential angst (or
“anguish”)? Why has the resultant black rage only been unleashed more than
ever since the civil rights era of the 1960’s and against whom is it directed
now?
9. Finally, what does West perceive as the appropriate response to the nihilistic
threat? What does he mean by the “politics of conversion” and the “love
ethic”?
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