"Gifted with Second-Sight": Theoretical Considerations on Du Bois and Black Epistemologies

• In Event: 20407 - Sociological Theory

Abstract

In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), W.E.B. Du Bois declares that Black folks are “born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world.” But what is the gift of second-sight? And how is it relevant for the study of Black life in contemporary sociology? Drawing from ethnographic insight and theoretical analysis, I consider the contemporary relevance of second-sight; taking seriously Du Bois's assertion that "we who are dark can see America in a way that white Americans cannot" (Du Bois 1926).

Author

• Tryce Prince, University of Illinois-Chicago