The Problem of Black Skin
Critical Reflections on Cultural Awareness, Social Change, and Spiritual Evolution
- Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
The Problem of Black Skin is addressed via a historical context, patiently explaining why it has long been a weighted mark of experience, identity, and value within society. The emphasis is on black skin as a cultural and social construct, but its spiritual significance and psychological ramifications are also evident from start to finish. Carefully researched, richly organized, and beautifully written, this book reminds us that as long as skin color matters, race will matter, and vice versa, thus rendering impossible any easy path toward the ideal of a truly integrated society and world. Moreover, readers of The Problem of Black Skin are exposed to complex and challenging intersections of thought from ancient history, spirituality, religion, and physics. Still, if read prudently, one also finds in this fantastic work practical guidance for overcoming the standard view of skin color as the source and rationale of othering. Thus, it addresses what really matters as it relates to black progression worldwide. In the final analysis, one discovers that racism is a byproduct of something far more sinister. At this intersection, the proverbial rubber meets the road, and the reader is challenged to consider avenues of thought that run counter to what has been traditionally deemed intellectually acceptable.
Endorsements (2)
“Dr. Stallworth has given us a rich and thought-provoking work that calls for a new and more nuanced understanding of the age-old and complex problem of black skin, which, interestingly enough, still obstructs the path to better and more peaceful relations between humans. He urges us to view the problem not only in an historical, cultural, and social context, but to also consider its spiritual dimensions and implications. The task Stallworth sets before himself is challenging and, in some ways, quite difficult, but he succeeds with deep sensitivity and considerable insight.”
“The Problem of Black Skin is a historical analysis, interwoven with contemporary moments, that highlights the roles of society, culture, and religion in human formation. With specific attention to imposed limitations of pigmentocracy, DeWayne R. Stallworth’s socio-religious analysis of the evolution of white resentment, notions of supremacy, and practices of terror serve as a framework for examining Black complicity in advancing theories and practices of anti-blackness. During a time marked by polarization and constructions of otherness, this publication is a major contribution to historical, sociological, religious, and theological studies.”
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