scholarly journals Reconstructing Identity through Voyages in/ out in Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child: A Psychogeographical Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Bougherira
Keyword(s):  
Black Community ◽  
Black Female ◽  
Black Mother ◽  
American Society

People’s voyages to different geographies may have diverse purposes. While some are just flâneurs taking routes aimlessly, others are stalkers with a preliminary idea about the significance of their derives. Aimless or not, the different geographies visited inevitably shape and reshape the walker’s character and psyche. This article analyzes Morrison’s latest novel, God Help the Child (2015), in the prism of the theory of psychogeography, which studies the correlative relation between psyche and geography. The article posits the question how does the novel’s protagonist, Bride, grows from a flâneur to a stalker in the light of the degrading capitalist American society and how do the different voyages out initiate her to some metaphorical voyages in, enabling her to reconstruct her identity as a black female and a future black mother. Bride’s wonderings about her identity, erased by a character called Booker, lead her to wandering to different territories (Decagon, the countryside and whisky) each of which dictates on her new ideologies and ethics, which, in turn, alter her behavior and outlook. The article evetually elucidates how the final station in Bride’s journey is a cathartic one through which she reclaims her freedom, recovers her identity and empowers herself and the black community.

scholarly journals Eccentricity and Conformity in Toni Morrison's A Sula: The Struggle for Life in a Patriarchal Society

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 233-240
Author(s):  
Mashhood Anjum ◽  
Raheel Rehman Khan ◽  
Yasir Khan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Black Female ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Patriarchal Society ◽  
American Society ◽  
Existential Issues

The present research investigates the struggle of female entities throughout their lives in a maledominated society, either acting in congruity or incongruity with the norms and set patterns of the society in order to get societal acceptance or to assert their sovereign individual-selves. The American society that is full of discrimination victimizes the race of Blacks in general and Black women in particular. As a result, the oppressed and subjugated woman has suffered as the 'Other' in American society during and after the era of slavery. The present research has delineated the existential conflicts of the Black female and the submissive or assertive behaviors they adopt to survive as free individuals. It is a qualitative research of Toni Morrison’s novel that has been critically analyzed. The novel, A Sula has been analyzed by using the lens of the Feminist Conceptual Framework, and feminine existential issues have been discussed under the umbrella of Feminist Existentialism. The present study is expected to be a significant one because it highlights different situations of the individuals in which they can redirect their destiny by actively participating as 'subjects' or passively submitting as 'Objects'.

Black Bottom

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrienne Stroik
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
African American ◽  
Black Community ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Social Dance ◽  
Theatrical Performance ◽  
The Great Migration ◽  
American Society

The Black Bottom dance began as an early twentieth-century African American social dance in the Southern United States. It later entered the American mainstream via Broadway productions, and underwent significant alterations during transmission. The Great Migration, urbanization, and industrialization resulted in the Black Bottom being brought into urban black communities and theaters in the Northeast and Midwest. In the 1920s, white directors and performers went into the predominately black neighborhood of Harlem and witnessed the dance performed by black performers in segregated theaters, and later received private instruction from black dancers. These performers and directors took their knowledge of Black Bottom out of the black community and onto the stages of Broadway. This transmission into theatrical performance ignited the widespread popularity of the Black Bottom, and led to its presence in white social entertainment venues (the dance, however, was drastically simplified). Black Bottom became part of modernist American society, which in itself was drawn to white appropriation of black practices. The Black Bottom established that dancing modern often meant adopting, adapting, and performing black dances.

Black Females and Lethal Violence: Has Time Changed the Circumstances under Which They Kill?

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula D. McClain
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Black Female ◽  
Disproportionate Representation ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Female Behavior ◽  
Environment Analysis ◽  
Lethal Violence ◽  
Black Females ◽  
American Society

Increases in lethal violence, the disproportionate representation of blacks as victims and offenders, and the more active participation and redefined roles of women in various aspects of life, makes the study of black female behavior in lethal acts of violence essential and important. The question of whether social changes in American society, specifically the women's rights movement, have impacted the circumstances or situations under which black females murder is examined. Secondary data on 119 black female homicide offenders and survey data on nine additional offenders were gathered through the project, “Black Homicide and the Urban Environment.” Analysis indicates that the circumstances surrounding the homicide incidents are still congruent with Wolfgang's findings [1], however, many changes appear to be occurring. It appears that if these changes continue for another decade Wolfgang's theory may no longer serve as an appropriate explanation for black female behavior in acts of lethal violence.

Precision and bias in quantitative EDS: ASTM results

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 1654-1655
Author(s):  
John J. Friel
Keyword(s):  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Mechanical Alloy ◽  
Dead Time ◽  
Test Program ◽  
Round Robin Test ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
American Society ◽  
Takeoff Angle ◽  
Standardless Analysis

Committee E-04 on Metallography of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) conducted an interlaboratory round robin test program on quantitative energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The test program was designed to produce data on which to base a precision and bias statement for quantitative analysis by EDS. Nine laboratories were sent specimens of two well characterized materials, a type 308 stainless steel, and a complex mechanical alloy from Inco Alloys International, Inconel® MA 6000. The stainless steel was chosen as an example of a straightforward analysis with no special problems. The mechanical alloy was selected because elements were present in a wide range of concentrations; K, L, and M lines were involved; and Ta was severely overlapped with W. The test aimed to establish limits of precision that could be routinely achieved by capable laboratories operating under real world conditions. The participants were first allowed to use their own best procedures, but later were instructed to repeat the analysis using specified conditions: 20 kV accelerating voltage, 200s live time, ∼25% dead time and ∼40° takeoff angle. They were also asked to run a standardless analysis.

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