Race For Theory

Between the World and Me has been called a book about race, but the author argues that race itself is a flawed, if anything, nothing more than a pretext for racism. Early in the book he writes, “Race, is the child of racism, not the father.” The idea of race has been so important in the history of America and in the self-identification of its people and racial designations have literally marked the difference between life and death in some instances. How does discrediting the idea of race as an immutable, unchangeable fact changes the way we look at our history? Ourselves? In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and the current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the

Dickerson’s goal in this book, I gather, is to criticize contemporary approaches to race. She does this without

In her article, “They Pretend to Be Us While Pretending We Don’t Exist,” Jenny Zhang discusses poet Michael Derrick Hudson’s use of a Chinese pen name in order to get published, a choice which he defends by saying that taking on a minority’s identity helped him get the “edge” he needed, but is really an act of appropriation. Zhang uses this particular instance and a few others to bring attention to racism both in the writing world and society itself. By falsely identifying as a minority, white writers think publishers will be more interested in their work to add diversity to a company; however, being an actual minority or person of color in the writing world makes it more difficult to get published and even more difficult to be sure of the

Furthermore, Biman Basu’s The Black Voice And The Language Of The Text: Toni Morrison’s Sula, investigates what he calls “one of the most significant developments in African American tradition…the formation of a class of intellectuals” (Article). More precisely, Basu is speaking of individuals like Morrison, who have not only broken down barriers for herself as a woman writer, but the others whom have followed in her footsteps to publish a rich tapestry of African-American literature. Furthermore, Basu’s investigates the conflict that arises when one class overtakes another stating that the conflict “on one hand, is between African-American and American Culture, and on the other, between this class of intellectuals and the ‘people’”(article).

The articles “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” written by Juthish Oriz Cofer and “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh are two essays covering the topic of race and gender. With a focus on privilege and race, one may assume that these two articles say the same thing, while in reality that is not true. As McIntosh and Cofer come from two different backgrounds and social standing, the authors offer two very unique views on the subject matter. Due to Cofer being a Puerto Rican woman and McIntosh being white woman, the two are opposites when it comes to white privilege and how it has effected them. This allows for them to give different views on the subject within the papers. Each articles differ in the audience, the purposes, and the appeals used within. On the other hand, both works are similar with the end goal and intended audience. As a member of the audiences targeted by both of these authors, I was able to connect to both of their writings due to the many different ways the two authors connected to their audiences.

The writing styles of Claudine Rankine and Colson Whitehead vary significantly, but both manage to address the issue of race in America in profound ways. In Citizen: An American Lyric, the former utilizes a combination of images and poetry to convey a sense of open-endedness, while the latter follows a traditional historical fiction narrative in his novel, The Underground Railroad. The books build on historical and modern events to evoke emotion and convey criticism. *Rankine uses an experimental style to allow introspection, and Whitehead’s traditional writing blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction.

After reading Contemporary Literary Theory: Its Necessity and Impossibility, I find that I agree with most of what Robert Young says in regards to literary theory. The main point that really struck home with me was when he talked about theorists lacking the ability to connect with a wide audience. He states, “Literary theorists seem to speak and argue with each other in a private language, making little effort to address a wider audience” (Young 165). I could not agree more with this assessment. When we first read about Jacques Derrida and his theory of deconstruction I questioned my intelligence. It may as well have been written in Greek. It has been a very long time since I have encountered something that left me with absolutely nothing after reading it. I tend to agree

Race, class, and gender have all been constructed by the worldviews on society, history, and politics. In the “Power of Illusion” videos, they mention the of ways on how everything humans know of today were created and brought up. The first example of the social construction is that race is obviously seen as physical appearance at a first glance. Race is not how someone looks, its about how people assign meaning to you from the way they see you. People create assumptions based on how one looks and that is how society and biases are created. The second example of race construction is based on historical and political views.

In reading through the works of Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington, I traveled back in time and felt the pain and suffering of the black folks from the past. The three authors completed their works to the best of their understanding, experiences, and chosen disposition to the matter. While the tones and messages of their works differed from one another, addressing various issues at specific levels of either favouring it or opposing it, Hurston, DuBois, and Washington brought to light a single message: respect the race that had endured so much from the past and yet survived the test of time – the race of African-Americans.

In assessing interpersonal relationships, the concept of race is a powerful factor. The United States upholds a problematic legacy in regard to the power discrepancies between racial minorities and white individuals. The race issues that currently exist in the U.S. are of unacceptable quantities but are also progressing through a path towards larger conflict that can be analyzed through theories of race and ethnicity, specifically critical race theory. After an overview of critical race theory, there will be an analysis of the historical context of the U.S., looking at slavery and segregation. A discussion of the existing systemic issues that reinforce power imbalances will follow. Subsequently, there will be an examination of “white privilege” and the violence that can emerge out of this notion. The stance that is being taken here is not merely that there is severe racism in U.S., but that in using critical race theory, one can see that race issues are so deeply rooted in society to the extent that it reinforces future inequality and violence.

Despite changes in the landscape for treatment of ethnic minorities in the United States over the past 200 years, issues with racism has never stopped being an issue and continues to tarnish and tatter the very fabric of our nation. There has been a history of violence against Black people that dates back 400 years, to a time when the first slave was forcefully brought here to the USA (Rogers, 2015). From that time on, people of African descent have been dehumanized and treated as second-class citizens and this has become an ongoing community issue (Diversi, 2016). Racial classification was created as a way to condone slavery and maintain the primacy of the white race (Tolliver, Hadden, Snowden, & Manning, 2016). Aymer (2016) explains that the Critical Race Theory (CRT) provides a way to understand that the violence that Blacks face in America originates from the societal belief in White superiority and, when trying to understand the Black reality, centuries of racial oppression must be discussed (Aymer, 2016). CRT acknowledges that racism is primarily a problem in America and has contributed to the social disparities in the U.S. In addition, it notes other forms of oppression that are important to discuss and work through. CRT does not believe in the legal rhetoric that there is an impartial, equal way of dealing with individuals in the community that has nothing to do with color and everything to do with achievement and hard work. It also takes on an interdisciplinary

Events in history have influenced writers’ style, and the importance in their stories. Alice Walker wrote a novel which was very much subjective by the time period of the 1940’s. There was a great deal of bigotry and tyranny during that time, particularly for Women of color. Women were mentally and physically abused and belittled by man purely because of their race and femininity. Women were considered as ignorant individuals that simply knew how to handle housework and care for the children.

This paper examines the feminist thoughtsas depicted in the works of black female writers, Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison. Both carry the common theme of describing the black woman and their sufferings in their novelsBeloved and I know why the caged bird sings. Both the writers handle a common feminist criticism. The silence, passivity and resistance of women protagonists are seen active of the feminist criticism.

The American literary canon presents a one sided view of women, due to the dominance of male authors. Classic American books generally present images of women in a male-centered viewpoint, creating a biased representation of women in literature. In “Feminist Literary Criticism: From Anti-Patriarchy to Decadence,” Anne Barbeau Gardiner states that the American literary canon is “strikingly narrow…prepared by white men whose judgment was prejudiced and whose language was full of gendered meanings.” (Gardiner 395). Gardiner

“All segments of the literary world—whether establishment, progressive, Black, female, or lesbian—do not know, or at least act as if they do not know, that Black women writers and Black lesbian writers exist.” During the 1970’s to 1980’s, African American studies of Black’s steep legacy was a dying trade. Alice walker stepped up in this time period as an influential writer of the recovery movement for African American studies. Three well respected works from Alice Walker are: The Color Purple, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, and Meridian. We will focus on Walker’s narrative, The Color Purple which details the story of a young eight year old girl named Celie who was sexually abused by her stepfather. Celie seeks help through her