Recent psychological theory and research about African American men are overwhelmingly cast in crisis terms. Within such theory and research, the experimental mainstream and Afrocentric psychology seem diametrically opposed to each other with respect to causes and reasons for the crisis as well as strategies for intervention and remediation. The author argues that, such surface differences notwithstanding, both proceed from an unquestioned assumption of an essentialized, endangered, and embattled African American masculinity, the consequence of an epistemological similarity that is deeply implicated in the representational politics and discursive construction of African American men. In response, theau-thor presents an outline of a discursive and cultural psychological alternative to studying and understanding African American men.
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