Abstract
Culture is central in LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka's scheme of black identity construction. The concepts of culture and identity become substantial as Baraka's nationalism gains momentum. The playwright decisively engraves black identity in a larger cultural context and a broader racial history. This can be explained in terms of Baraka's espousal of an eclectic ideology that blends both culture and race. Culture and race transpire then to finally fuse. Consequently, Baraka moves in the direction of building identities that hinge on culture and declares blackness as intrinsic difference. The articulation of difference is comparable to the assertion of one's self as absolutely distinct. Such paradigmatic blackness comes to the fore as a result of white identitarian hegemony and racial supremacy. I shall take issue in this paper with black identity formation and its dependence on culture. The second part of this paper sheds light upon the trope of blackness as categorical difference closely related to the notion of race. This paper demonstrates the paramount significance of culture in the construction of black identity, and dispels the silence of the critical literature on matters relating to culture, difference, and identity in several plays written by Baraka during his various shifts of ideological position. It also argues for the importance of black culture and the positioning of blackness at the heart of identity politics.