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Conceptualizing Embodiment in Africana Existentialist Discourse (The Bluest Eye, the Fire Next Time, and Black Skin, White Masks)

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Conceptualizing Embodiment in Africana Existentialist Discourse (The Bluest Eye, the Fire Next Time, and Black Skin, White Masks) BEING AND OTHERNESS: CONCEPTUALIZING EMBODIMENT IN AFRICANA EXISTENTIALIST DISCOURSE (THE BLUEST EYE, THE FIRE NEXT TIME, AND BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASKS) Jonathan J. Brownlee A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2020 Committee: Sue Carter Wood, Advisor Nermis Susana Mieses Graduate Faculty Representative Raymond A. Craig Lee Nickoson © 2020 Jonathan J. Brownlee All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Sue Carter Wood, Advisor This dissertation explores the writings of three authors associated with the philosophical and literary approach known as Africana existentialism (AE). There are two main exigencies which this study addresses: 1) What insights can rhetoric and writing scholars obtain from analyzing the work(s) of Africana existentialism regarding the concept of embodiment? 2) How might these insights impact our conceptual understanding of embodied practice and our ability to teach in a diverse classroom setting? Through a hermeneutic analysis of three AE works, The Bluest Eye, The Fire Next Time, and Black Skin, White Masks, three key features of black embodiment were found. The three key features of black embodiment are as follows: 1) There is a context in which blackness exists as opposition or in contrast to the theory and glorification of whiteness. 2) Cultural products, narratives, and symbols put forth by Western mass culture can negatively impact many people who exist in/as black bodies. These products, symbols, and narratives can have an onerous psychological impact on black people. 3) There is an importance and irreducibility to black experiential facticity—a phenomenological knowledge gained from being in the world as a black body—and claims about experiential facticity go beyond typical academic arguments and discussions about the constructed nature of blackness. This emphasis on experiential facticity uncovers issues of divergent epistemologies and ideologies, and such divergences may spring from cultural positionality. My research sets forth three possible paths which might alleviate some of the problems that arise from divergent epistemologies and ideologies. First, it is extremely important for teachers to check their own ideological blind spots iv for beliefs and approaches which may stifle views which sound different than their own. Next, teachers should use rhetorical listening in order to improve cross-cultural communication. Lastly, teachers can develop and use heuristic practices or theories of acquisition which will let people apply concepts to their own personal, situated experience. v To Jabari Mbwelera, Kathryn Brownlee-Mbwelera, Jocquell Brownlee, Ashley Doonan, and Dr. Johnson vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Foremost, I would like to acknowledge my family. All of my family. For many of my family members, being black/bodies has been a source of great adversity, and yet a source of immense pride. To my brothers, Jabari and Jocquell, both of whom have had to battle the most insidious traps and strenuous tribulations set in front of the African American male, I empathize and acknowledge your struggles. To Jabari, the one who did not survive these battles of being: I love and miss you, and I will strive to honor your memory. To Jocquell (and my nephews and nieces): you’re still alive, you are strong, you still have time, and I am here for you. To my mother, Kathryn Brownlee-Mbwelera, I cannot imagine all you have seen, survived, and conquered. You have grown to be a better person with age, and I am proud of you. To my grandmother: In a way, just by existing in your skin with such dignity and hidden depth, you taught me pride and to hold my cards close and love myself. I want to acknowledge the struggles and trials we have faced, and I want to celebrate our journey. Many of us have not survived these struggles and battles, but I will never forget you, and I will always put the weight of your hopes, dreams, and existence on my shoulders. I exist for you. I exist for the possible version of me that was befallen by a different fate. I exist. Blackness has been at the core of our existence in this society, and this project has taught me more about the brilliance, persistence, and courage of our black culture. Secondly, I would like to acknowledge my dissertation chair and the full committee. I would like to thank Dr. Sue Carter Wood; you challenged me throughout my years in this program, and you helped guide me with some of the most insightful questions I have ever encountered. Also, thank you for allowing me the space to write about a topic I feel very strongly about, and one which challenges several ideas which are often overlooked or ignored. Thank you vii to my committee, as well, for your insightful feedback. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge everyone at Bowling Green State University (particularly my friends and my officemate, Ashely Doonan) who collaborated, conversed, and debated with me during our time at the university. And, it should go without saying: thank you, Chaz. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1: BACK TO THE BODY .................................................................................. 1 Beginning with Histories of Bodies, Theories, and Ambitions ................................. 1 Literature Review: Embodiment in the Discipline/s .................................................. 4 The Body in Rhetoric and Writing Studies ................................................................ 8 Why Africana Existentialism is Needed in Writing Studies ...................................... 15 Embodiment and Theories of Race ............................................................................ 18 Embodiment and Understanding................................................................................ 20 CHAPTER 2: REVIVAL OF A HISTORICAL METHOD: THE COMPATIBILITY OF HERMENEUTICS AND AFRICANA EXISTENTIALISM ................................................ 23 Personal Positionality and Africana Existentialism .................................................. 24 To Perform or Not to Perform? Is There an Option? ................................................. 27 Hermeneutics as Methodology in its Relationship to AE .......................................... 33 Hermeneutics as a Research Methodology ................................................................ 36 Turning to the Texts ................................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 3: ANALYZING EMBODIMENT THROUGH AFRICANA EXISTENTIALISM ............................................................................................................... 43 Abolitionist Rhetoric and AE Embodiment ............................................................... 45 AE Writing and US Authors .......................................................................... 45 Embodiment in The Bluest Eye .................................................................................. 54 Introduction .................................................................................................... 54 Analysis and Findings .................................................................................... 57 ix The Main Form of Embodied Terminology ................................................... 62 Embodiment in The Fire Next Time........................................................................... 63 Introduction .................................................................................................... 63 Analysis and Findings .................................................................................... 65 The Main Form of Embodied Terminology ................................................... 69 Embodiment in Black Skin, White Masks .................................................................. 70 Introduction .................................................................................................... 70 Analysis and Findings .................................................................................... 72 The Main Form of Embodied Terminology ................................................... 76 CHAPTER 4: A CONCEPT OF BLACK EMBODIMENT FROM AFRICANA EXISTENTIALISM AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR RHETORIC AND WRITING STUDIES ........................................ 78 A Concept of Embodiment in AE .............................................................................. 78 Like Water, Like Culture: The Omnipresence of Culture ......................................... 79 Experiential Facticity ................................................................................................. 81 How a Philosophical Split Led to Different Expressions of Embodiment and Knowledge ................................................................................................................. 88 Getting Past the Impasse ............................................................................................ 96 Imagine Pecola in the Classroom ............................................................................... 99 CHAPTER 5: PEDAGOGICAL POSSIBILITIES AND AN OLD EMBODIED PRACTICE ............................................................................................................................ 105 Research Limitations ................................................................................................. 106 Checking Blind Spots, Rhetorical Listening, and Heuristic
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