In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America

by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

In this provocative book, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., one of our nation’s rising young African American intellectuals, makes an impassioned plea for black America to address its social problems by recourse to experience and with an eye set on the promise and potential of the future, rather than the fixed ideas and categories of the past. Central to Glaude’s mission is a rehabilitation of philosopher John Dewey, whose ideas, he argues, can be fruitfully applied to a renewal of African American politics.
 

According to Glaude, Dewey’s pragmatism, when attentive to the darker dimensions of life—or what we often speak of as the blues—can address many of the conceptual problems that plague contemporary African American discourse. How blacks think about themselves, how they imagine their own history, and how they conceive of their own actions can be rendered in ways that escape bad ways of thinking that assume a tendentious political unity among African Americans simply because they are black. Drawing deeply on black religious thought and literature, In a Shade of Blue seeks to dislodge such crude and simplistic thinking and replace it with a deeper understanding of and appreciation for black life in all its variety and intricacy. Glaude argues that only when black political leaders acknowledge such complexity can the real-life sufferings of many African Americans be remedied, an argument echoed in the recent rhetoric and optimism of the Barack Obama presidential campaign.


 

I n a Shade of Blue is a remarkable work of political commentary and to follow its trajectory is to learn how African Americans arrived at this critical moment in their cultural and political history and to envision where they might head in the twenty-first century.

 


“Eddie Glaude is the towering public intellectual of his generation.”—Cornel West
 
“Eddie Glaude is poised to become the leading intellectual voice of our generation, raising questions that make us reexamine the assumptions we hold by expanding our inventory of ideas.”—Tavis Smiley

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Race, Nonfiction, African American, Sociology

189 pages, Hardcover

First published February 10, 2007

About the author

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University and author of Democracy in Black.

Reviews

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really two books in one; one of them a five-star book laying out a compelling approach to thinking about black identity and politics in the 21st century, the other a sketch of how that approach might be applied to a set of issues, including African American Christianity, black nationalist thought of the 1960s and 1970s and the formation of a "post-soul" politics. Glaude's vision of a philosophical approach to race grounded in John Dewey's pragmatism, but inflected with a "blues" sensibility derived largely from James Baldwin is brilliantly articulated. It's a smart way of escaping the trap of racial "essentialism"--the notion that a fixed racial identity determines one's being--without surrending the reality of African American history. I'll be referring many students to the chapter in which Glaude analyzes different approaches to black "identity." His Baldwinian reading of Toni Morrison's Beloved is one of the best discussions of the novel I've read. Glaude was a student of Cornel West's and in many ways, the first two chapters of this book match anything West has written over the last twenty years. The engagement with Dewey was a revelation to me and I'll follow up by reading some of the Dewey Glaude refers to.

The last four chapters, while interesting, aren't anywhere near as fully realized. Glaude's intention was to lay out approaches which could be profitably applied to some of the most pressing issues in African American social thought and he does that well. But he doesn't follow through in detail.

One last note. In a Shade of Blue was written in 2006 and it's perspective on black politics is very much pre-Obama. Glaude's not a prophet and there's no way he could have seen the 2008 election coming, but it does date the book in very clear ways.

[Aggrey Odera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book (even though the conclusion leaves much to be desired). Glaude presents a way, based on the American Pragmatism of John Dewey and a rich reading of Tony Morrison's "Beloved", for black America to contend with "the blues" - the tragedy of life as black people in America. He advocates a shift from the 1960s revolutionary mindset, which he thinks has us imprisoned, not allowing us to imaginatively think about and confront new challenges facing black America. At the same time, he also makes a valiant attempt to defend pragmatism from Cornel West's assertion that it does not pay enough attention to evil (choosing, instead, to operate using the language of tragedy).

[Ernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eddie's done it again. Elegantly written, and a timely contribution to American Pragmatism, Black Theology, and black political philosophy. There is also some great literary criticism here to: his reading of Toni Morrison's Beloved is one of the highlights of the book. As he notes in the introduction, "this book is not for the philosophically faint of heart," but rewards will come to those who read patiently.

[kayla curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

just finished this book for social theory class but i loved it so much i’m sharing it here. it was such a refreshing perspective focused on redefining the way we view social problems and identity politics, specially through his pragmatic historicist approach to the ideas of black identity and black nationalism. glaude offers an overarching approach to reviving participatory democracy in the postmodern era. rather than be paralyzed by the fragmentation and unprecedented global and technological changes of the time, glaude urges us to be creative and innovative about meeting the problems of the moment with a careful and intelligent reverence to the past. pragmatism, the practice of addressing actual problems rather than problems of description or definitions of problems is a huge relief after a semester of depressing theory about how capitalism has splintered and disintegrated fundamental aspects of society such as participatory democracy and community care for one another. after a whole semester of old white men defining problems with postmodernity and diversity of experiences, it’s nice to hear an embracing of differences and practical action oriented discussions of social progress in the current age. finally, a contemporary voice of reason, creativity, and hope. i really want to read more of his work and work on pragmatism now!

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glaude makes a compelling case that African American experience has as much to offer American pragmatism as the other way around.

[Aidan Corrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This did everything I needed it to. I will use this many times in my life, it was amazing. This is my thing!

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know why studying philosophy and history matter, read this book.