About
PostBourgie is a running, semi-orderly conversation about class and politics and media and gender and whatever else we can think of. It represents the views of its authors and not those of their respective employers or organizations with which they are affiliated.
slb is a writer and professor in Grand Rapids, MI.
G.D. is a writer in Brooklyn, NY
Holler: postbourgie at gmail dot com.
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The word ‘postbourgie’ was coined during a semi-serious conversation between a good friend and I. What prompted it? We’re not sure anymore. It may have followed in the aftermath of Bill Cosby’s pound cake speech. Or maybe some overheated panel discussion condemning ‘coonery’ in the media. Or maybe some dude tut-tutting about how far black folks have slipped since The Great Fall From the Unparalleled Golden Age of Upstanding Negritude.
Anyway, we were raising our eyebrows at something, ‘cuz well, that’s how we get down. We grew up in the hood (she in Brooklyn, me in South Philly), so the classism that animates so many conversations about the Myriad Ills of Black America always seemed to get our Spidey-senses tingling. We doled out impassioned eyerolls both to the teachers said we ’spoke well’ and the Bourgie negroes who made jokes about ‘ghetto names.’ We didn’t do cotillions or frats or sororities. We saw classism and racism and sexism not as separate demons worthy of confronting individually, but as the muddled messes that they’d always been in our lives.
But here we were as young adults —news junkies, hip-hop heads, smart-asses and autodidacts who grew up in the hood — suddenly smack dab in the middle class, surrounded by scores of self-congratulating Negroes who patted each other on the back because they were about something and self-congratulating white folks who patted themselves on the back because they had black friends. But damn it if we didn’t love the sushi!
So where did we fit in?
We agreed that labels were silly and reductive. So, of course, we created one.
“We’re post-bourgie,” she said. Or I said. It doesn’t really matter. And we chuckled.
— G.D.
i’d like to take a step outside of my normal hateful self and say that this really, really is an awesome blog. like a rarely read blogs. but this one, i support.
i’d wear a tshirt that said ‘post-bourgie’ on it. really i would. not so much cause im *that* dedicated to this place, but because i think that id feel smarter than people who would have to ask me what it meant, and i’d feel like a part of some secret society whenever met with the knowing smurk of someone who at least knows what ‘bourgie’ means.
holy shit.
make tshirts. now. thanks.
Thank you for the kind words.
a shirt that reads post-bourgie… i dig it.
would folks accuse you of selling out?
can a post-bourgie person sell out?
hm.
a pickle.
anyhoo, i love this blog, too.
it makes me wish i were constantly in grad school.
only with people who looked like me.
I’m loving your blog. post-bourgie has a nice ring to it.
Thank you very much.
Greetings. I found your blog via Edge of the American West, and I’m glad I did.
I could not be whiter (Teutonic-Scandinavian heritage), but my love of Faulkner and Latin American culture led to a dissertation on miscegenation narratives in the literatures of the Americas. But “post-bourgie” resonates with me, too: if not for my education and good fortune in getting a teaching job . . .
Anyway: thanks for writing an entertaining and thought-provoking blog on race and popular culture. I look forward to returning.
Thanks, John B.
aaaaah. the blog title totally makes sense after reading this. love it!
You mean it didn’t make sense before?
No, as I’ve never heard the term ‘post bourgie’ before.
I totally relate to being Post-bourgie..I spell bourgie as boughee - phonetically -, with one exception - I joined a sorority. I’m glad I did, but I still carry/carried the same sentiment of the Priviledge class thing with me. I actually found infiilatrating such an establishment eye-opening. I support the goals of purposes of Black Greek lettered organizations, but sometimes the conversations and antics are too shallow.
Keep it up
I just stumbled into your blog today. It’s a great read.
Thanks.
ditto the above. what an enjoyable site. i’ve added it to my links page at the black house, bhonline.org.
keep up the good work!
where’s the RSS on this jont, bammas?
Just for the sake of accuracy, G.D.: …a semi-serious conversation between a friend and ME, not I.
Power to your mixin’ it up!
Rhome: i’m working on that.
Shuggie: learn me. i’m lost here.
thanks for the “about us.” the thinking and writing is great here. and i’m with the rest - when are you going to get on cafepress with some post-bourgie t-shirts?
Glad to be here and I have to thank my cyber friend Gardy for the intro. PB is in my favs. Look for me to post a lot. oh and b.t.w. I luv the concept behind the name. Right On!
Jackie (Darkie)
You’ve got a new fan :o)
I’ll be back and around!
Stacia, I’m from Grand Rapids and a huge fan of The Wire!! I’ve been trying to recruit more fans here! Very few people have heard of this show–apparently not many people subscribe to HBO, but I must confess I watched it through Netflix. Amazing show! Looking forward to checking out this blog more in the future.
love it, love it, love it! I’m late in finding you, but I’ll be sticking around until post-bourgie becomes pre-revolutionary?
Thanks for linking to my feed, I appreciate the love. You guys have a fantastic blog here, I’ll be sure and add you to my blogroll, stat. Drop me a line if you ever want to talk about anything or you have some material you’re looking to promote.