Introduction to The 2023 Maxwell Lecture in Political Theory and Contemporary Politics.

The article focuses on Simon Stow's 2023 Neal A. Maxwell Lecture, which examines the American tradition of Black patriotism from Frederick Douglass to contemporary Black musicians, highlighting its complex, "double-voiced" nature as both an embrace of and resistance to dominant White patriotic narratives. Stow employs James C. Scott's concept of the hidden transcript to argue that Black patriotism fosters a counterpublic central to Black solidarity and political mobilization, distinct from assimilationist or universalist patriotism. Michaele Ferguson challenges Stow's treatment of patriotism as primarily linguistic, suggesting this approach renders Black patriotism more conventional and broadly accessible than intended. Demetra Kasimis further interrogates Stow's interpretive method, proposing that his analysis may reflect a surface reading that reveals an inherent duality in patriotism itself, rooted in the ancient Greek concept of patris as both kin and polis, implying that patriotism inherently involves complex, overlapping loyalties.