Setting the Stage for Self-Determined Identity: Amiri Baraka's Dutchman as Political Myth

• Published in: ANQ (Lexington, Ky.) Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 283 - 287
• Main Author: Anderson, Tiffany M. B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Routledge 02.04.2024; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: African Americans; Baraka, Amiri (1934-2014); Drama; Identity politics; Mythology; Politics; Racial identity; Self concept
• DOI: 10.1080/0895769X.2022.2114412
• ISSN: 0895-769X

Amiri Baraka's play Dutchman serves as a warning against the intermingling of races and encourages black Americans to resist passivity and create their own self-determined identities. The play depicts a young black man named Clay who meets an older white woman named Lula on a NY subway train. Lula manipulates Clay, highlighting the power dynamics between black and white relations. The play aligns itself with the Legend of the Flying Dutchman, emphasizing the perpetual existence between the worlds of the living and the dead. Clay's blackness is seen as life, while whiteness is seen as death. Clay's refusal to denounce his black identity ultimately leads to his murder. Baraka labels the play a modern myth, elevating the importance of identity politics and suggesting that mythology exists in contemporary society. By rejecting double-consciousness and uniting as a race, black Americans can create a collective self-determined identity. Dutchman seamlessly connects art and activism to identity politics, creating a political mythology that calls for black consciousness to thrive.