Dictionary

double consciousness en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The awareness of a subordinated or colonized individual of having two selves, their inward self and the self, created by how the oppressor group sees them.
   • Postcolonial theorists often describe the colonial subject as having a double consciousness or double vision, in other words, a consciousness or way of perceiving the world that is divided between two antagonistic worlds, a consciousness or way of perceiving the world that is divided between two antagonistic cultures: that of the colonizer and that of the indigenous community. 1999, Lois Tyson, chapter 11, in Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, page 368:
   • Double-consciousness is the African American’s awareness of possessing two souls: an outward self based largely on how whites perceive him and an inward self that he comes to realize as his truer self. 2008, Danny Sexton, “Lifting the Veil: Revision and Double-Consciousness in Rita Dove’s The Darker Face of the Earth”, in Callaloo, page 778: