Double-Consciousness

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others…

If I could, I’d footnote Du Bois’s articulation of double-consciousness to say that it means belonging to two hive minds – the narratives of mainstream white society, and, simultaneously, those of the Black community. This clarification leaves space for a third (and perhaps other) consciousness: the self as constructed as a result of and regardless of those hives. Language is how we negotiate consciousness, giving any gesture at least three context-bound meanings…