scholarly journals Violence/Accommodation Binary in Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hind Naji Hussein Ithawi
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Black Intellectuals ◽  
Complicated Problem ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Black Characters ◽  
Pure White

The present paper examines the divergent attitudes of black characters toward racism in Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Traditions (1901). Chesnutt wrote his novel to reflect his opinions on how African Americans should act to improve their situation. To situate the study within the historical and cultural context of Marrow, Black intellectuals’ views, namely Washington and Du Bois, about the complicated problem of ‘color’ were explored. To analyze the contrasting views and actions of Chesnutt’s black characters, the paper uses the lens of postcolonial theory. Although Marrow is not set within a colonial context, postcolonial theoretical frameworks can be used as models to re-read this novel because they deal with intersections of races, classes, cultures, and the oppressor/ oppressed relationship. The paper concludes that Chesnutt has entertained the possibility of a hybrid or third race— as referred to within postcolonial framework—that may succeed where both races (pure white and black) have failed.

scholarly journals Violence/Accommodation Binary in Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
Hind Naji Hussein Ithawi
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Black Intellectuals ◽  
Complicated Problem ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Black Characters ◽  
Pure White

The present paper examines the divergent attitudes of black characters toward racism in Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Traditions (1901). Chesnutt wrote his novel to reflect his opinions on how African Americans should act to improve their situation. To situate the study within the historical and cultural context of Marrow, Black intellectuals’ views, namely Washington and Du Bois, about the complicated problem of ‘color’ were explored. To analyze the contrasting views and actions of Chesnutt’s black characters, the paper uses the lens of postcolonial theory. Although Marrow is not set within a colonial context, postcolonial theoretical frameworks can be used as models to re-read this novel because they deal with intersections of races, classes, cultures, and the oppressor/ oppressed relationship. The paper concludes that Chesnutt has entertained the possibility of a hybrid or third race— as referred to within postcolonial framework—that may succeed where both races (pure white and black) have failed.

Indigenous standpoint theory as a theoretical framework for decolonizing social science health research with American Indian communities

2021 ◽  
pp. 117718012110420
Author(s):  
Genevieve R Cox ◽  
Paula FireMoon ◽  
Michael P Anastario ◽  
Adriann Ricker ◽  
Ramey Escarcega-Growing Thunder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
American Indian ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Standpoint Theory ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Social

Theoretical frameworks rooted in Western knowledge claims utilized for public health research in the social sciences are not inclusive of American Indian communities. Developed by Indigenous researchers, Indigenous standpoint theory builds from and moves beyond Western theoretical frameworks. We argue that using Indigenous standpoint theory in partnership with American Indian communities works to decolonize research related to American Indian health in the social sciences and combats the effects of colonization in three ways. First, Indigenous standpoint theory aids in interpreting how the intersections unique to American Indians including the effects of colonization, tribal and other identities, and cultural context are linked to structural inequalities for American Indian communities. Second, Indigenous standpoint theory integrates Indigenous ways of knowing with Western research orientations and methodologies in a collaborative process that works to decolonize social science research for American Indians. Third, Indigenous standpoint theory promotes direct application of research benefits to American Indian communities.

Foremost Musician and Engaged Citizen

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean E. Snyder
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Black Community ◽  
Black Church ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Race Riots ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
General Welfare ◽  
Eastern Seaboard

This chapter examines how Harry T. Burleigh came to represent African Americans as their premiere baritone and leading composer while also establishing a reputation as an engaged citizen in the first decades of the twentieth century. It first considers Burleigh's active participation in the life of the black community in New York and other cities on the eastern seaboard, lending the weight of his renown to benefit numerous social and educational causes, including efforts to improve the health and general welfare of African Americans. It then discusses Burleigh's connection with the city's black church community, including St. Philip's Episcopal Church and other Episcopal congregations, along with his relationships with Booker T. Washington, Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and W. E. B. Du Bois. The chapter also describes Burleigh's position regarding the lynchings and race riots in various parts of the country.

Promises of Citizenship

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. German
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Central Question ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Mobilization ◽  
Shed Light

Considering their historically marginalized place in American democracy, one wonders why African Americans bothered to fight in any American conflict. This conundrum is especially perplexing in World War II, a war to free millions from tyranny. Scholars have neglected to ask the fundamental question; why did the African American community send thousands of men to fight for a democratic way of life in which they could not fully participate? The answers to this question, and there are undoubtedly multiple responses, may shed light on contemporary quandaries–situations that involve military mobilization for the good, not of the whole society, but of narrow constituencies. This is the central question of this book. The chapters explore the cultural context where citizenship for African Americans was negotiated through military service.

scholarly journals CLAIMING HUMAN DIGNITY

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence D. Bobo
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The South ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Reconstruction Era ◽  
Cultural Racism

In the concluding line of his opening note to Black Reconstruction in America, W. E. B. Du Bois, wrote “I am going to tell this story as though Negroes were ordinary human beings, realizing that this attitude will from the first seriously curtail my audience” (1934[2007], p. xliii). Doing so was an intellectually courageous step at the time Du Bois wrote. Jim Crow strictures, after all, were almost fully institutionalized across the South by that time and larger cultural motifs stressing redemption and reconciliation were steadily undoing the meager steps toward uplift and equality for African Americans of the Reconstruction era. Enormous progress notwithstanding, we know that great challenges of enduring inequality and persistent cultural racism remain in our time. The spirit of this declaration and the a priori intellectual posture it embraces have, quite fittingly then, animated this journal from our inception.

Uptown Cigarette

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Robbin Derry ◽  
Sachin Waikar
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Market Share ◽  
Black Community ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Black History ◽  
List Type ◽  
Cigarette Brand ◽  
Test Market

To recapture lost market share, tobacco giant R. J. Reynolds (RJR) developed Uptown, the first cigarette brand created and targeted specifically at a minority group—in this case, African-Americans. RJR planned to launch a six-month test market in Philadelphia in February 1990, which coincided with national Black History Month. The launch generated grassroots opposition from the black community in Philadelphia, which became intent on ensuring there was “No Uptown in our town or any town.”After analyzing the case, students should be able to: Identify some of the complex issues surrounding targeting specific populations Recognize the importance of understanding cultural context Recognize the limits of profit-based decision-making

The Black Image on the White Screen: Representations of African Americans from the Origins of Cinema toThe Birth of a Nation

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
BEN URWAND
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
American Cinema ◽  
Hundredth Anniversary ◽  
Black Characters ◽  
Narrative Cinema ◽  
The One

In the first two decades of the twentieth century, American cinema played a major role in transforming what George Fredrickson has called “the black image in the white mind.” This transformation began with the invention of cinema and climaxed withThe Birth of a Nation, a film whose appeal derived not from its content, but rather from D. W. Griffith's ability to seize on this content to provoke an intense emotional response in his viewers. This essay begins by examining some of the first images of African Americans captured on camera. It then turns to Griffith's innovations in the one- and two-reelers he made at the Biograph Company. Finally, and on the occasion of the film's hundredth anniversary, the essay provides a detailed analysis of how Griffith achieved his effect inThe Birth of a Nation. What the essay shows, ultimately, is that whereas the earliest depictions of African Americans relied on audience foreknowledge, the arrival of American narrative cinema led Griffith to create new kinds of black characters. Griffith's use of the close-up, the point of view, the shot/reverse-shot pattern, and parallel editing enabled him to convince his audiences of a “black menace” that threatened white America.

scholarly journals World War I in the Historical Imagination of W. E. B. Du Bois

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-22
Author(s):  
Chad Williams
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
World War I ◽  
African American History ◽  
Historical Imagination ◽  
World War ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Unpublished Work ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
States History

W. E. B. Du Bois stands as one of the most celebrated and studied African Americans in United States history. Nevertheless, Du Bois's substantial body of writings on World War I has received little scholarly attention. This article explores Du Bois's published and unpublished work, revealing the centrality of World War I to Du Bois's life and historical imagination. Du Bois devoted decades to writing about and grappling with the historical legacy of World War I for African Americans, broadly, and for himself, individually. His inability to find both collective and personal redemptive meaning in the war reflects his struggle to reconcile the tension between history and memory, as well as the still contested place of World War I in African American history.

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