Chapter 16: A Clinical Deconstruction of the Negative Archetypes and Complexes of African American Masculinity

Over the past decade, the vast majority of social science research focused on African American males and Black males throughout the diaspora has emphasized pathology, exploring topics ranging from persistent academic underachievement, participation in illicit activities (e.g., drug trade, gangs, crime), depression and mental health wellness, parenting, and participation in child rearing (Kohl, Gross, Harrison, & Richards, 2015; Murry, Simons, Simons, & Gibbons, 2013; Warren, Chiricos, & Bales, 2012). Social science research studies have largely focused on crisis and deviant behaviors, and have provided little insight into the ways in which African American/Black¹ males are thriving and existing in a chronically hostile and racist world. Consequently, such research has not only contributed to but also reified misnomers and one-dimensional representations that have positioned African American/Black males as “endangered species” (Gibbs, 1988) and being in a state of “crisis” (Allen & Correspondent, 2013). These representations have often been stereotypical, presenting African American males as homogenous, violent, or otherwise unable to function in healthy and responsible ways (Powell-Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Laubscher, 1995). Even more, their lives are often framed as being expendable and of little value, and requiring militarized policing and control. Coupled with racial and racialized gender stereotypes that persist in society, as observed in social and mass media (Adams-Bass, Stevenson, & Kotzin, 2014; Jackson, 2006), the expendability of Black males’ lives facilitates a normalcy and unaffected response to the loss of African American/Black males’ lives.²