DOCSLIB.ORG

The Thoughts and Feelings of African Americans Toward the Use of the Word Nigger by African Americans and by Caucasians

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Thoughts and Feelings of African Americans Toward the Use of the Word Nigger by African Americans and by Caucasians Walden University ScholarWorks Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection 2021 The Thoughts and Feelings of African Americans Toward The Use of the Word Nigger by African Americans And by Caucasians Sylvester Earl Baker Walden University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations Part of the Psychology Commons This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Walden University College of Social and Behavioral Sciences This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation by Sylvester Baker has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Cameron John, Committee Chairperson, Psychology Faculty Dr. Peggy Samples, Committee Member, Psychology Faculty Dr. Medha Talpade, University Reviewer, Psychology Faculty Chief Academic Officer and Provost Sue Subocz, Ph.D. Walden University 2021 Abstract The Thoughts and Feelings of African Americans Toward The Use of the Word Nigger by African Americans And by Caucasians by Sylvester Baker Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Social Psychology Walden University May 2021 Abstract The word nigger has a troublesome history in America for many African Americans. It represents a strong connection to centuries of slavery, the Jim Crow era, discrimination, racism, and oppression. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the specific thoughts and feelings of African Americans toward the use of the word nigger by African Americans and by Caucasians. Although credible research in the area of racial images and racial slurs has been conducted, research has yet to specifically explore the thoughts and feelings African Americans have about the use of the word nigger by African Americans and Caucasians. The conceptual framework in this research consisted of Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, coupled with the social identity theory by Tajfel, and the social comparison theory proposed by Festinger. Using a qualitative approach of criterion-based purposeful sampling, the participants of this study consisted of a very diverse group of 15 African Americans. Interviews using open ended questions were the method for data collection. The data analysis consisted of identifying recurring themes. The findings of the study uncovered three key points. The first, African Americans are not monolithic with their views on this issue. Second, the data revealed African Americans overwhelming feel Caucasians should never use the word nigger. Third, African Americans are allowed to use the word in certain situations where context and relationships portray key roles. This research implication for positive social change includes race relations advancements between African Americans and Caucasians and cultural improvements among African Americans, resulting in better communications and undergoing a visible level of progress. The Thoughts and Feelings of African Americans Toward The Use of the Word Nigger by African Americans And by Caucasians by Sylvester Baker Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Social Psychology Walden University May 2021 Dedication This research paper was dedicated to my children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. My hope is this research paper sends a clear message to them reinforcing what I have consistently preached. All goals are possible, when you pray and focus your mind, your time, and your efforts into a specific purpose. Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of the participants who so generously gave of their time, to help contribute to this study. I thank them for being open and honest in their views, providing for rich research material. I want to give special thanks to all those who supported my efforts in completing this study. I am particularly grateful to Ms. Bettye Jones for lending her typing skills for this entire document. I would like to thank my family for providing me continuous encouragement and support. Specifically, to my children who provided me with constant motivation to keep going, they are Latrina, Akilah, Panya, Jovan, Kamilah, and Salih. Lastly, I give my sincere thanks to my committee members, Dr. Cameron R. John and Dr. Peggy Samples. They patiently guided me through this research process. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study--------------------------------------------------------------1 Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Background -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Problem Statement -----------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Purpose of the Study---------------------------------------------------------------------------4 Research Questions----------------------------------------------------------------------------4 Conceptual Framework------------------------------------------------------------------------5 Nature of the Study-----------------------------------------------------------------------------6 Definitions of Terms and Theoretical Constructs-----------------------------------------8 Assumptions------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9 Limitations of the Study ---------------------------------------------------------------------10 Delimitations of the Study-------------------------------------------------------------------10 Significance of the Study--------------------------------------------------------------------10 Summary---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 Chapter 2: Literature Review--------------------------------------------------------------------12 Historical Perspective------------------------------------------------------------------------13 Contemporary Perspective-------------------------------------------------------------------17 Impact of the word nigger-------------------------------------------------------------------17 Who uses the word nigger-------------------------------------------------------------------18 Family and Friends---------------------------------------------------------------------------18 The use of the word nigger in the workplace…………………………….………...19 i The use of the word nigger in motion pictures and books--------------------------------19 . The use of the word nigger in Government-------------------------------------------------20 . The use of the word nigger by African American Leaders-------------------------------21 Ethnophaulisms--------------------------------------------------------------------------------21 Ethnonyms--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23 . Ethnophaulism Studies------------------------------------------------------------------------24 Relevant Studies--------------------------------------------------------------------------------31 Racial Attitude and Identity Studies---------------------------------------------------------31 The Nigrescence Theory----------------------------------------------------------------------32 The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity---------------------------------------35 The Balance of Desirable Responding------------------------------------------------------35 Psychology of Black Identity----------------------------------------------------------------36 The Doll Study---------------------------------------------------------------------------------37 Racial Identity and Self Esteem-------------------------------------------------------------38 Summary----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------41 Chapter 3: Methodology---------------------------------------------------------------------------41 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------44 Research Design and Rationale-------------------------------------------------------------45 Role of the Researcher-----------------------------------------------------------------------46 Participants Selection Process--------------------------------------------------------------48 Sampling Strategy----------------------------------------------------------------------------49 Informed Consent-----------------------------------------------------------------------------49 ii Data Collection--------------------------------------------------------------------------------50 Data Analysis Strategy-----------------------------------------------------------------------52 Trustworthiness--------------------------------------------------------------------------------52 Summary---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------53 Chapter 4: Results---------------------------------------------------------------------------------54 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------54 Data Collection---------------------------------------------------------------------------------54 Analyzing the Data-----------------------------------------------------------------------------57
Load more

Recommended publications
  • " Ht Tr H" : Trtp Nd N Nd Tnf P Rhtn Th
    ht "ht Trh": trtp nd n ndtn f Pr ht n th .. nnl Ntz, tth r Minnesota Review, Number 47, Fall 1996 (New Series), pp. 57-72 (Article) Pblhd b D nvrt Pr For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mnr/summary/v047/47.newitz.html Access provided by Middlebury College (11 Dec 2015 16:54 GMT) Annalee Newitz and Matthew Wray What is "White Trash"? Stereotypes and Economic Conditions of Poor Whites in the U.S. "White trash" is, in many ways, the white Other. When we think about race in the U.S., oftentimes we find ourselves constrained by cat- egories we've inherited from a kind of essentialist multiculturalism, or what we call "vulgar multiculturalism."^ Vulgar multiculturalism holds that racial and ethic groups are "authentically" and essentially differ- ent from each other, and that racism is a one-way street: it proceeds out of whiteness to subjugate non-whiteness, so that all racists are white and all victims of racism are non-white. Critical multiculturalism, as it has been articulated by theorists such as those in the Chicago Cultural Studies Group, is one example of a multiculturalism which tries to com- plicate and trouble the dogmatic ways vulgar multiculturalism has un- derstood race, gender, and class identities. "White trash" identity is one we believe a critical multiculturalism should address in order to further its project of re-examining the relationships between identity and social power. Unlike the "whiteness" of vulgar multiculturalism, the whiteness of "white trash" signals something other than privilege and social power.
    [Show full text]
  • The N-Word : Comprehending the Complexity of Stratification in American Community Settings Anne V
    Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2009 The N-word : comprehending the complexity of stratification in American community settings Anne V. Benfield Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Race and Ethnicity Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Benfield, Anne V., "The -wN ord : comprehending the complexity of stratification in American community settings" (2009). Honors Theses. 1433. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/1433 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The N-Word: Comprehending the Complexity of Stratification in American Community Settings By Anne V. Benfield * * * * * * * * * Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Department of Sociology UNION COLLEGE June, 2009 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Chapter One: Literature Review Etymology 7 Early Uses 8 Fluidity in the Twentieth Century 11 The Commercialization of Nigger 12 The Millennium 15 Race as a Determinant 17 Gender Binary 19 Class Stratification and the Talented Tenth 23 Generational Difference 25 Chapter Two: Methodology Sociological Theories 29 W.E.B DuBois’ “Double-Consciousness” 34 Qualitative Research Instrument: Focus Groups 38 Chapter Three: Results and Discussion Demographics 42 Generational Difference 43 Class Stratification and the Talented Tenth 47 Gender Binary 51 Race as a Determinant 55 The Ambiguity of Nigger vs.
    [Show full text]
  • Disciplinary Gestures in Charles Kingsley´S at Last : a Christmas in the West Indies (1871) Revista Mexicana Del Caribe, Vol
    Revista Mexicana del Caribe ISSN: 1405-2962 [email protected] Universidad de Quintana Roo México Wahab, Amar Re-writing colonized subjects: disciplinary gestures in Charles Kingsley´s at last : a christmas in the west Indies (1871) Revista Mexicana del Caribe, vol. VIII, núm. 16, 2003, pp. 133-178 Universidad de Quintana Roo Chetumal, México Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=12801605 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto RE-WRITING COLONIZED SUBJECTS: DISCIPLINARY GESTURES IN CHARLES KINGSLEY’S AT LAST: A CHRISTMAS IN THE WEST INDIES (1871) AMAR WAHAB* University of Toronto Abstract The Victorian period of British travel writing in the “tropicalized” world distinguished itself from early nineteenth-century travel due partic- ularly to changing demands for re-inventing British control in the post-emancipation period. This article unpacks the textual and visual representations of Negroes and Coolies in nineteenth-century Trinidad in the travelogue of British natural historian, Charles Kingsley, high- lighting the discursive powers of these representations in re-stabilizing British rule and order in the colony. Kingsley’s re-writing of colonized subjects cannot be disconnected from the re-definition and re-deploy- ment of ideas of race and rule across the British Empire, especially in the context of post-emancipation labour shortages, the rise of the black subject and colonial anxieties about the “Negro character”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Negro Is Paid to Dance
    Diálogo Volume 8 Number 1 Article 17 2004 The Negro is Paid to Dance Matilde E. López Karin Killian Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation López, Matilde E. and Killian, Karin (2004) "The Negro is Paid to Dance," Diálogo: Vol. 8 : No. 1 , Article 17. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo/vol8/iss1/17 This Rincón Creativo is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Latino Research at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Diálogo by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Negro is Paid to Dance Cover Page Footnote This article is from an earlier iteration of Diálogo which had the subtitle "A Bilingual Journal." The publication is now titled "Diálogo: An Interdisciplinary Studies Journal." This rincón creativo is available in Diálogo: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo/vol8/iss1/17 Art by Fernando Llort. isThePaid Negro to Dance Image from stationary, provided by Claudia Morales Haro A Short Story by Matilde Elena Lopez Translated by Karin Killian Lima, Peru This is the history of a sad man, or better put, the history of a The only thing I remember about my father is a strong tail sad Negro who is now sadder still. I feel in my heart as though Jamaican who spoke only English. "British, British. Panama is I have been painted with pitch. I am drowning in a cesspool. I of no importance to me," he used to say.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Introduction R. J. Ellis One of the most influential books ever written, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly was also one of the most popular in the nineteenth century. Stowe wrote her novel in order to advance the anti-slavery cause in the ante-bellum USA, and rooted her attempt to do this in a ‘moral suasionist’ approach — one designed to persuade her US American compatriots by appealing to their God-given sense of morality. This led to some criticism from immediate abolitionists — who wished to see slavery abolished immediately rather than rely upon [per]suasion. Uncle Tom's Cabin was first published in 1852 as a serial in the abolitionist newspaper National Era . It was then printed in two volumes in Boston by John P. Jewett and Company later in 1852 (with illustrations by Hammatt Billings). The first printing of five thousand copies was exhausted in a few days. Title page, with illustration by Hammatt Billings, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Vol. 1, Boston, John P. Jewett and Co., 1852 During 1852 several reissues were printed from the plates of the first edition; each reprinting also appearing in two volumes, with the addition of the words ‘Tenth’ to ‘One Hundred and Twentieth Thousand’ on the title page, to distinguish between each successive re-issue. Later reprintings of the two-volume original carried even higher numbers. These reprints appeared in various bindings — some editions being quite lavishly bound. One-volume versions also appeared that same year — most of these being pirated editions. From the start the book attracted enormous attention.
    [Show full text]
  • The Life of the Negro Slave in Alabama
    Jacksonville State University JSU Digital Commons Theses Theses, Dissertations & Graduate Projects 1971 The Life of the Negro Slave in Alabama Daniel B. Austin Jacksonville State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/etds_theses Part of the Labor History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Austin, Daniel B., "The Life of the Negro Slave in Alabama" (1971). Theses. 3. https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/etds_theses/3 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations & Graduate Projects at JSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of JSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE LIFE OF THE NEGRO SLAVE IN ALABAMA by Daniel B. Austin Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in education at the Jacksonville State University Jacksonville, Alabama 1971 THE LIFE OF THE NEGRO SLAVE IN ALABAMA Daniel B. Austin CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ' ·.1 (,) ,() / •: ,,,//f/\'.~<-2,.)< ~ J/1, U~l/(j.kV' Lucile Chapman, Ph.D. Roland A. Thorn Professor of History Professor of Ed Sponsor ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to Dr. Lucile Chapman, Sponsor of this study, for her in­ terests, comments, and helpful counsel during the course of this study; to Dr. Alta Millican and Mrs. Margaret P. Williams of Ramona Wood Library for their invaluable assis­ tance in the procurement of the many reference materials used in this study; and to Mrs. Render Otwell of Carnegie Library. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.
    [Show full text]
  • Resistance, Language and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North
    Masthead Logo Smith ScholarWorks History: Faculty Publications History Summer 2016 The tE ymology of Nigger: Resistance, Language, and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor Smith College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/hst_facpubs Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Pryor, Elizabeth Stordeur, "The tE ymology of Nigger: Resistance, Language, and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North" (2016). History: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/hst_facpubs/4 This Article has been accepted for inclusion in History: Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Smith ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected] The Etymology of Nigger: Resistance, Language, and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor Journal of the Early Republic, Volume 36, Number 2, Summer 2016, pp. 203-245 (Article) Published by University of Pennsylvania Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jer.2016.0028 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/620987 Access provided by Smith College Libraries (5 May 2017 18:29 GMT) The Etymology of Nigger Resistance, Language, and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North ELIZABETH STORDEUR PRYOR In 1837, Hosea Easton, a black minister from Hartford, Connecticut, was one of the earliest black intellectuals to write about the word ‘‘nigger.’’ In several pages, he documented how it was an omni- present refrain in the streets of the antebellum North, used by whites to terrorize ‘‘colored travelers,’’ a term that elite African Americans with the financial ability and personal inclination to travel used to describe themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Pro-Football, Inc. V. Blackhorse
    Case 1:14-cv-01043-GBL-IDD Document 71 Filed 02/26/15 Page 1 of 45 PageID# 1176 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA ALEXANDRIA DIVISION PRO-FOOTBALL, INC., Plaintiff, Civil Action No.: 1:14-cv-1043-GBL-IDD v. AMANDA BLACKHORSE, MARCUS BRIGGS-CLOUD, PHILLIP GOVER, JILLIAN PAPPAN and COURTNEY TSOTIGH, Defendants. DEFENDANTS’ MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF THEIR MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON COUNTS 1, 2, AND 7 Jesse A. Witten (pro hac vice) Jeffrey J. Lopez (VA Bar No. 51058) Adam Scott Kunz (VA Bar No. 84073) Tore T. DeBella (VA Bar No. 82037) Jennifer T. Criss (VA Bar No. 86143) DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP 1500 K Street, N.W., Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20005-1209 Telephone: (202) 842-8800 Facsimile: (202) 842-8465 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Counsel for Defendants Amanda Blackhorse, Marcus Briggs-Cloud, Phillip Gover, Jillian Pappan and Courtney Tsotigh Case 1:14-cv-01043-GBL-IDD Document 71 Filed 02/26/15 Page 2 of 45 PageID# 1177 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 1 PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................ 3 THE BLACKHORSE RECORD AND SUPPLEMENTATION ................................................. 4 MATERIAL FACTS AS TO WHICH THERE IS NO GENUINE ISSUE ............................... 5 A. PFI Adopted The Current Team Name In 1933 To Avoid Confusion With The Boston Braves Baseball Team, Not To Honor Native Americans. ................... 5 B. Dictionaries, Reference Works, Other Written Sources, and Native Americans Expressly Recognize the Disparaging Nature Of The Term “Redskin.” ................................................................................................................. 6 1. Dictionaries ......................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Semantics and Pragmatics of Slurs and Thick Terms Bianca Cepollaro
    The Semantics and Pragmatics of slurs and thick terms Bianca Cepollaro To cite this version: Bianca Cepollaro. The Semantics and Pragmatics of slurs and thick terms. Philosophy. Uni- versité Paris sciences et lettres; Scuola normale superiore (Pise, Italie), 2017. English. NNT : 2017PSLEE003. tel-01508856 HAL Id: tel-01508856 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01508856 Submitted on 14 Apr 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THÈSE DE DOCTORAT de l’Université de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres PSL Research University Préparée dans le cadre d’une cotutelle entre Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa et École Normale Supérieure, Paris La sémantique et la pragmatique des termes d’offense et des termes éthiques épais Ecole doctorale n°540 ÉCOLE TRANSDISCIPLINAIRE LETTRES/SCIENCES Spécialité Philosophie COMPOSITION DU JURY : Mme. JESHION Robin University of South California, Rapporteur M. VÄYRYNEN Pekka University of Leeds, Rapporteur Mme. BIANCHI Claudia Soutenue par Bianca Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Membre du jury CEPOLLARO Le 20 janvier 2017h Mme. SBISÀ Marina Università degli Studi di Trieste, Membre du jury Dirigée par Pier Marco BERTINETTO et Isidora STOJANOVIC The semantics and pragmatics of slurs and thick terms Bianca Cepollaro Abstract In this thesis I develop a uniform account of slurs and thick terms in terms of presuppositions.
    [Show full text]
  • © Brian Casserly, 2020 Bellevue College HIST 205: History of World
    1 Bellevue College HIST 205: History of World War II Spring 2020 Please see the class Canvas site for details of how HIST 205 will be taught remotely to meet Covid-19 social distancing requirements for Spring Quarter of 2020. www.phdcomics.com This syllabus contains essential information about class policies, structure, etc. that are intended to help further your learning in the class. It is your responsibility to be familiar with it. There will be a quiz on the syllabus Instructor: Dr. Brian Casserly Office Hours: Virtual – see Canvas for details. Contact Information: E-mail (best way to contact me): Use Canvas e-mail or [email protected] Phone: (425) 564-3140 “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.” Dwight Eisenhower “Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: 'Do not march on Moscow'... Rule 2 is: Do not go fighting with your land armies in China.” Bernard Law Montgomery “Great Britain provided time; the United States provided money and Soviet Russia provided blood.” Joseph Stalin © Brian Casserly, 2020 2 INTRODUCTION AND TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Welcome to HIST 205! Fundamentally, history involves the study of change and seeks to explain why these changes occur and how they have influenced human societies and cultures. History helps us understand ourselves, our world, and how and why it is the way it is. For the rest of the quarter I look forward to working with you as we examine some of the major developments and experiences of World War II and explore its consequences for a variety of societies around the world.
    [Show full text]
  • On Not Being Tony Harrison: Tradition and the Individual Talent of David Dabydeen
    On Not Being Tony Harrison: Tradition and the Individual Talent of David Dabydeen LEE M.JENKINS ^^)NE OF THE MORE unusual critical responses to T. S. Eliot is surely David Dabydeen's claim that "Eliot is the parent of Carib• bean poetry." Indeed, Dabydeen himself feels the need to qualify his remark before he makes it, when he says that Eliot assumes this parental role "in a peculiar sense" (Grant 211). On a thematic level, much of the work of the British-based Indo-Caribbean poet Dabydeen is to do with absent parents (the poet's actual parents, his parent country of Guyana and the Caribbean parent language, Creole; now living in England, Dabydeen shares with Eliot the sta• tus of metoikos, or resident alien); on a formal level, his poetry is less a quest for origins than it is a turbulent — by turns loving and loathing, respectful and rebellious — relationship with Eliot and other literary progenitors from Homer to Tony Harrison.1 Dabydeen's agon with Eliot is evident from his first collection, Slave Song (1984). The poet's use of Creole in this collection is, on one level, a testament of authenticity and, paradoxically given Dabydeen's tide, a proclamation of emancipation from the influ• ence of Eliot and Western literary tradition: this black vernacular is a language which, despite its "capacity for a savage lyricism" per• mits no level of abstraction, so "you cannot have the Four Quartets in Creole" (Binder 171, 170). Notwithstanding this, the innova• tion of contemporary Black British and Caribbean poetry suggests a certain continuity with Eliot; prior to these poetries, Dabydeen has argued, "the last great innovator in British poetry this century has been T.
    [Show full text]
  • Indo-Caribbean African-Isms
    Indo-Caribbean African-isms: Blackness in Guyana and South Africa By Andre Basheir A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Andre Basheir 2013 ii Indo-Caribbean African-ism: Blackness in Guyana and South Africa Master of Arts, 2013 Andre Basheir, Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, University of Toronto Abstract In an attempt to close the gaps between diaspora and regional studies an Afro-Asian comparative perspective on African and Indian identity will be explored in the countries of Guyana and South Africa. The overlying aim of the ethnographic research will be to see whether blackness can be used as a unifier to those belonging to enslaved and indentured diasporas. Comparisons will be made between the two race models of the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean worlds. A substantial portion will be set aside for a critique of the concept of Coolitude including commentary on V.S. Naipaul. Further, mixing, creolization, spirituality and the cultural politics of Black Consciousness, multiculturalism, and dreadlocks will be exemplified as AfroAsian encounters. iii Acknowledgements Firstly, I like to thank all the people in the areas I conducted my fieldwork (South Africa especially). I befriend many people who had enormous amounts of hospitality. Specifically, Mark, Bridgette and family as well as Omar, Pinky and Dr. Naidoo and family for letting me stay with them and truly going out of their way to help my research efforts. Many thanks goes to a large list of others that I interviewed.
    [Show full text]