Karl Deutsch once argued that power was “the capacity not to have to learn” -- in other words, the truly powerful are those who can go on as they have been going on, without having to modify their actions as a result of how things turn out. I am usually put in mind of Du Bois’ notion of the double consciousness by this remark, because in a way Du Bois could be read as arguing that those on the margins, those laboring under the burden of double consciousness from “being a problem,” have no choice but to learn how the dominant society operates so that they can try to find some place within it or at least a relationship to it. Those at the center have the luxury of not having to do so.
Does it therefore follow that those with double consciousness understand the society they are living in better than those at the center do? Do only certain kinds of double consciousness afford this epistemic privilege, or are there multiple marginal points of view...and how might we deal with that multiplicity? In a way, what I am asking here is: might there not be certain benefits, not to say advantages, or having a double consciousness? [Note that I am not asking about benefits of being marginalized and pushed down in the hierarchy, which I think is by definition a bad thing. I am instead asking about possible flowers that grow in the cracks at the side of the pavement, so to speak.]
No comments:
Post a Comment