Truth, the Self, and Political Critique: Authenticity and Radical Politics in 1960s America

In the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, appeals to authenticity were deployed across the political spectrum. Taken together, these notions offered competing and often contradictory accounts of what authenticity entailed, where it resided, and who could be authentic. Despite how ideologically diverse and protean these claims were, many activists chose to hold onto the term rather than jettison it. They contested popular accounts of who and what was authentic and deployed the term for their own purposes. In doing so, they were able to advance a variety of political causes. By analyzing four texts associated with movement politics of the time, this article shows how authenticity appeals could help marginalized groups to contest oppressive stereotypes, animate resistant practices of truth telling, and provide alternative accounts of justice, freedom, equality, and solidarity. In this article, I first show that the political potential of such appeals can be detached from the purported truth of their ontological claims, and second, that while it is possible to deploy authenticity strategically that is, without really believing that an inner self exists such a deployment may eclipse some of the more potent discursive effects offered by such appeals.