A Man Among Other Men: The Crisis of Black Masculinity in Racial Capitalism. By JordannaMatlon, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2022. 306 pp. $32.95 (papercover). ISBN: 9781501762932

Abstract

Jordanna Matlon's A Man Among Other Men: The Crisis of Black Masculinity in Racial Capitalism is a compelling and incisive examination of how economic systems and social constructs intersect to shape Black identity and lived experience within the context of Abidjan. This book offers a profound analysis of how colonial and neocolonial frameworks have influenced constructions of Black masculinity, providing readers with both a vivid portrait of the city and a nuanced exploration of these larger themes. Matlon's descriptions of Abidjan are highly evocative. Through these descriptions Matlon immerses the reader in a city where community and rivalry are continuously constructed and deconstructed in alignment with colonial and neocolonial pressures. Through this lens, Abidjan becomes not only a physical space but also a site where Black masculinity is contested, negotiated, and ultimately shaped by the imperatives of racial capitalism. [O]n the African continent, unlike on slave plantations in the Americas, bestowing the privileges of whiteness was instrumental to consolidating consensus to racialised colonial oppression and promoted a kind of racial passing among those Africans who adopted the ways of the coloniser … African subjects swept into the white man’s world faced the imperative to ‘turn white or disappear’ … a privileged subset of African men gained liberty out of the sun and fields by way of complicity: the closer they approached the colonial state, as ‘advisors’ of indirect rule in British Africa …or évolué in French and Belgian Africa, the greater their rights and entitlements in the colonies and over their fellow subject By highlighting the imperative to ‘turn white or disappear’ Matlon expands the concept of passing to include ideological and behavioural conformity, showing how these forms of complicity were pivotal for sustaining colonial regimes. By assigning relative value to select individuals within oppressed groups, colonial powers effectively implemented a divide-and-conquer strategy that ensured compliance while undermining collective resistance. In economies of surplus labor, Blackness-as-commodity, a cultural artifact, continues to bestow value even while the Black human is rendered redundant, disembodying Blackness. A commodity subject, Blackness thus imagined is a product of racial capitalism … The value of Blackness as a commodity is derived from the very devaluation of Black life. It is a core tenet of racial capitalism: the commodity form at the expense of Black agency and Black bodies … Challenging the strict and often deadly controls over Black bodies, resistance could be expressed as embodied acts of self-gratification … For Black men to be adorned in fine clothing, to dine well, in short, ‘to take back their bodies for their own pleasure rather than another’s profit,’ was to assert their dignity and self-mastery, level status distinctions, and challenge stereotypes about uncivilised Black bodies Matlon's analysis underscores how racial capitalism renders Black life synonymous with commodification, severing the connection between the Black person and their innate humanity. This separation not only facilitates exploitation but ensures the perpetuation of systems that devalue Black lives while profiting from them. Yet Matlon also illuminates the ways in which resistance emerges from these very conditions. Through acts of self-assertion—whether through adornment, rest, or other practices that prioritise pleasure and dignity—Black people contest their reduction to commodities and reclaim their humanity. Throughout the book, Matlon raises a pressing and resonant question: how should we understand complicity within the constraints of colonialism and its aftermath? For the men of Abidjan who ‘turn white’ to secure survival and privilege, is this complicity a betrayal or a pragmatic response to oppressive conditions? This tension highlights the complex interplay between survival and resistance, forcing readers to grapple with the blurred lines between voluntary complicity and coercive compliance. A Man Among Other Men challenges its audience to critically interrogate the systems that commodify and constrain Black life while also recognising the agency and resistance embedded within these oppressive structures. Matlon's work is a thought-provoking contribution to the study of racial capitalism and Black identity, offering valuable insights that resonate far beyond Abidjan. In urging us to confront complicity and resistance in all their complexity, Matlon compels us to envision pathways towards a more equitable future. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.