Critical view of “Negritude sem identidade: sobre as narrativas singulares das pessoas negras”. São Paulo: Editora N-1, 2023

Abstract

Although Negritude Without Identity, by Érico Andrade, presents a thought-provoking critique of modernity and emphasizes the singularity of Black experience, the work raises serious theoretical and political concerns. The ambiguous and undefined use of the concept of “identity” undermines argumentative clarity, especially when Andrade proposes the renunciation of identity as a strategy of resistance. Such a proposal overlooks the central role identity plays in the political, legal, and historical cohesion of marginalized groups. By abandoning the concept due to its lack of ontological grounding, there is a risk of pragmatically disarming these groups in their struggle for rights, recognition, and legal protection. Furthermore, the work neglects the interrelation between racism and speciesism, failing to recognize how both stem from the same exclusionary logic of modernity. Andrade’s critique of modern racism does not extend to its anthropocentrism, inadvertently reinforcing a paradigm that disqualifies other beings based on arbitrary criteria of rationality. Finally, by emphasizing the body and performativity as the core of Black experience, the author risks reproducing the very error he critiques: flattening singularity and reinforcing stereotypes that associate Blackness exclusively with corporeality, at the expense of the intellectual and existential diversity of Black individuals.