‘ In Comes the New Black’: The Ghetto-Rural Black versus Blacksurbian Identities

Abstract

ith the emergence of the Black bourgeoisie in Africa and the diaspora, there is a need to conceptualise the urban Black person, who, in pursuit of a better life, had to redefine, adopt, and formulate an identity acceptable within the middle and upper social classes. Inclusivity and diversity are key terms in these classes because there is a need to design urban spaces accommodative and cognisant of the history informing the diverse groups inhabiting it. This should contemplate the effects of colonialism on the urban space and how colonialism influences the formulation of the different Black identities in urban spaces. This research contends that the inequalities of the urban space have created two groups of Black people: The Ghetto-Rural Black and the Blacksurbian especially in South African and American (for African Americans) urban space. This has created a hierarchy amongst Black people which has not been mitigated because of popular culture and how it influences the consciousness of Black people on race matters. This research uses D. A. Masolo’s arguments to conceptualise these concepts. Additionally, it proposes new ideas of Blackness to demonstrate dislocation and how the Blacksurbian influences exclusion from the urban space.