Projects of blackness: Racial identity and discourse among black conservatives

Black conservatism is discussed as one of several "projects of blackness" seeking to influence the character of black identity. These projects affect the definition of interests and the sense of agency associated with black identity. They contend with one another to gain sway over the ways that black people interpret experience and give meaning to their lives.;Diversity in black identity becomes the context within which these projects compete for influence. Rather than viewing this diversity solely in terms of individual variation, the dynamics of identity are construed to assert that the very capacity of black individuals to conceive of themselves as unique selves is the product of collectively shared constructions of race and identity. Blackness is discussed in terms of intersubjectivity, or the shared basis for self-construction. This is in contrast to static approaches that essentialize race or culture, or even those that argue for an essential subject. A theoretical frame is synthesized using discussions of narrative that represent identity as an element of social structure allowing for adaptation to the efforts of other identities. This is combined with discussions of moral narratives and self-construction through autobiography to illuminate the nature of racial identity and multiple intersubjectivities within it.;Efforts at identifying black conservatism in historical and contemporary context are reviewed. It is argued that typical approaches to defining conservatism in general and black conservatism in particular fail to situate conservatism in sociological context. Karl Mannheim's perspective on conservatism serves as the basis for a definition of conservatism that centers on the effort at renewing traditional social arrangements in the face of liberal social change. This is applied to the discussion of black conservatism to determine what aspects of the existing analyses may be applicable to this research. The presence of a patronage network within American conservatism is identified as a key issue in determining the implications of conservatism for black identity. An analysis of "grassroots" black conservative writings provides the basis for a qualitative analysis that illuminates an intrinsic black conservatism that is oriented to black tradition and grounded in concrete social realities for black people.