Status Updates From Peau noire, masques blancs ...

Unfortunately, I’m no smarter when it comes to Freudian psychoanalysis than I am regarding post-war French and French-colonial literature. But basically chapter 6 starts with him discussing how and why the psychology of white and black people is fundamentally different, largely tying it back to the family dynamic and its relationship to broader society.

I feel like I need to read five different books and then come back to this one with all the context he seems to assume I have. Because damn, I am just really struggling to keep up with his train of thought as he bounces around in the way that he does between himself and those he’s discussing.

I guess I spoke too soon about chapter 5, because the immediate next 10 pages are a constant jumping between a long poem describing the coming into existence & ongoing experience of blackness, and his interjecting points & occasional sarcasm. So once again, my dumb ass is having a hard time keeping track of where he’s making a point, someone else is making a point, he’s criticizing someone or building on them.