White Devils, Black Gods: Race, Masculinity, and Religious Codependency
Ebook
Interweaving academic theory, (auto)ethnography, and memoir-styled narrative, Christopher M. Driscoll explores what the “white devil” trope means for understanding and responding to tensions emerging from toxic white masculinity.
The book provides a historical and philosophical account of the “white devil” as it appears in the stories and myths of various black religious and philosophical traditions, particularly as these traditions are expressed through the contemporary cultural expression of hip-hop. Driscoll argues that the trope of the white devil emerges from a self-hatred in many white men that is concealed (and revealed) through various defence mechanisms – principally, anger – and the book provides rich ground to discuss the relationship between perceptions of self (i.e. who we are), emotional regulation, and our behaviour towards others (i.e. how we act).
An introduction to the history of the “white devil” as expressed in certain black religions, as well as an ethnographic embrace of the devil concept for understanding and responding to toxic white masculinity.
Brings the question of religion into conversation with work on toxic white masculinity, and demonstrates how and why they should be discussed together
Provides a concise introduction to the history of the “White Devil” trope that does not currently exist in either academic or popular literature.
Carefully balances considerable degree of detail and sophisticated analyses with an accessible tone, style, and definitions.
1. “We Made It”
2. Autoethnography as Autopoiesis
3. Introductions
4. Theophany
5. I Am Who I Am
6. Troglodytes
7. Good Lords & White Devils
8. Co-Dependent
9. Neuroses
10. Selfhood
11. Dysfunction
12. Adult Children
13. Cycles of Abuse
14. Emotional Intelligence
15. Discernment
16. My Two Gods
Questions for Discussion
Bibliography
Index
This book is a gift for this time in history, an essential read for people who want to build communities to counter white racism and nurture expansive, generative interdependence. The analysis of harms done is rigorous and compelling, and the depiction of paths forward for genuine reparations and systemic justice are original, evocative, and catalytic.
As an incredibly rare work in its honesty, transparency, and depth, Christopher M. Driscoll's White Devils, Black Godsis an excellent contribution to the emerging nexus in scholarship on religio-racial identity, gender politics, and hip hop music and culture.
- Title: White Devils, Black Gods: Race, Masculinity, and Religious Codependency
- Author: Christopher M. Driscoll
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350175945, 9781350175938, 1350175935, 1350175943
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350175945
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-08T21:55:00Z
Christopher M. Driscoll is Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University, USA. He is author of White Lies: Race & Uncertainty in the Twilight of American Religion (2015), co-author of Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion (2018), co-editor of Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning (2020), and co-editor of Breaking Bread, Breaking Beats: Churches and Hip Hop – A Guide to Key Issues (2014).