Paul Gilroy - blog task

1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?

Gilroy suggests that racial identities are constructed through historical means such as slavery and colonisation 
2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?

He believes that race does bot cause racism, instead, racism creates race. Racism isn't natural, it is instead the defining of difference through oppression by historic events 
3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?

Ethnic absolutism is essentially the process of differentiating humans by race, and opposes it due to it countering his argument of racism causing race

4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?

Gilory does not see diaspora in a traditional sense of it being purely national, instead he sees it as translatic diaspora, where groups across the Atlantic share the same cultural practises.
5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?

To quote Gilroy "external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation." what this means is that in order to accept the cultural identity of black britons, we must first reject the negative stereotypes of black people at the time.
6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?

some negative examples would be exclusion, exposure to negative and regressive ideologies and marginalisation. 
7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.

The trailer for hidden figures puts the black identity into one of Americas most defining moments, this is an example of trying to negate the feeling of black diaspora by enforcing the idea that american history and black history is not mutually exclusive
8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?

Gilroy suggests that slavery was important due to its significance on the american capitalist system and the normalisation of that view/identity is what formed the modern day diasporic identity of black america.

9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?

The idea of double consciousness is that of split identity into different facets; not split into the say a different personality like D.I.D, but split in the sense of not really belonging to any one specific area, type and or society. This idea may be continued to be presented to black individuals within the UK and US through the media presenting different views of Africa, African culture or even different facets of black US and UK citizens. These different identities being represented can conflict with the identity that the people who watch the shows/media already have.  
10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.

Hidden figures tries to cement the idea of black America, an attempt to establish that for black Americans, America is home, that is where their identity is. And this is double so for female black Americans.