Double consciousness fractures identity by measuring oneself through others’ contemptuous eyes.

Evidence

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. (p. 2) The concept of the veil can also be applied on a societal or institutional level. — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 267

Within the concept of the veil, Du Bois introduced one of his most famous ideas—double consciousness, which describes an individual whose identity is fractured by society. Du Bois (1903) wrote:

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

— James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 266

Categorization

• DEFINE: Du Bois’s classic articulation of double consciousness, worth keeping verbatim as the primary source definition.
• XREF: Connects to the earlier chapter mentions of Freire’s conscientization and to academic-press discussions of Du Bois generally. — connects to: Children of Color suffer simultaneous special-education, gifted, and discipline inequities.; The Other’s look makes the self haunt an unreflective consciousness — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 727; Hypersurveillance racializes Muslim identity producing a double consciousness — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 237 (+4 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The twoness passage is among the densest formulations of identity under subordination in the canon; it rewards sitting with the tension of ‘dogged strength’.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 267; James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 266

Broader Connections

• The racial gaze subjects the observed to a humiliating double-consciousness #corroborates (0.88) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 878
• The Other’s look makes the self haunt an unreflective consciousness #expands (0.82) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 727
• Hypersurveillance racializes Muslim identity producing a double consciousness #exemplifies (0.80) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 237
• Identity gets constituted when the Other’s gaze names it #expands (0.78) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 207
• Being objectified by another’s look constitutes an inescapable existential guilt #corroborates (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 72
• Repeated exposure to others’ judgments inevitably shapes a person’s character #expands (0.72)