The irrepressible negativity of Blackness: David Marriott’s theory of libidinal economy in light of Black Male Studies

David Marriott offers an interesting reappraisal of the notion of negativity, taking into account the inherent racialization of modern libidinal economy. The erasure of negativity amounts to a dissimulation of the “Black problem” within contemporary critical theory, as far as it structures modernity as such. Reading his work through the lens of Black male studies underlines its originality. First, resorting to Marriott’s notion of white fantasies with an objective value, the paper shows how affirmative interpretations of libidinal economy are in solidarity with anti- Blackness, and how white intolerance to negativity translates into a sadistic need for absorbing Blacks and transforming their historical singularity into appropriable difference. Second, it shows that torture, lynching and consumption of Black males historically held a specific function in white libidinal quest for affirmation and self referentiality. Fetishization of Black men allows a cathartic reversal of the most phobogenic object into an inexhaustible source of enjoyment.