University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2007 The politics of creation : the short story in South Africa and the US/ Lloren Addison Foster University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Foster, Lloren Addison, "The politics of creation : the short story in South Africa and the US/" (2007). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 929. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/929 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of Massachusetts Amherst Library THE POLITICS OF CREATION: THE SHORT STORY IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE US A Dissertation Presented by LLOREN ADDISON FOSTER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2007 W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro American Studies © Copyright by Lloren Addison Foster 2007 All Rights Reserved THE POLITICS OF CREATION: THE SHORT STORY IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE US A Dissertation Presented by LLOREN ADDISON FOSTER Approved as to style and content by: Steven C. Tracy, Chair / Esther M.A. Terry, Member Michael Thelwell, Member Stephen Clingman, Member Esther M. A. Terry, Department Chair W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro American Studies DEDICATION To God for making "all things possible;" To my father who bought me books and rewarded my inquiries and to my mother who encouraged my curiosity and my love for reading: thank-you both for the countless sacrifices you made on our behalf; To my brother and sisters for loving me in spite of me; To my wife, the love of my life; To my daughter, the inspiration of my life; To my son, the reason for life; To the "Fam", I would not have made it without your prayers and good tidings; To the countless administrators and teachers who encouraged me ; and To the ancestors for making a way out of no way. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I indebted am to the following: B. J. Bolden, Ph.D., for seeing more than I could see and helping me imagine the possibilities; Professor Haki Madhubuti, for opening doors for me; Robert Paul Wolff, Ph.D., for making sure money was never an impediment; Steven C. Tracy, Ph.D., for your patience, honesty, and confidence, but above all for being more than an advisor and a teacher; Esther Terry, Ph. D., for believing in me and reminding me "I know what I know;" Stephen Clingman, Ph.D., for always taking the time and providing me with life changing opportunities; Professor Bill Strickland, for challenging me "Jack!"; Professor Michael Thelwell, for showing me what can be; for my colleagues in Afro Am for never giving up on me; Alesia, Daniel, David, Shawn, Takao, and Tkweme for reaching out to me; Carolyn, Njubi, Brandon, Chris, Stephanie, Jennifer, Trimiko, and "Mr. Rosa" for showing me the way; Tricia Loveland and Patricia Brunson for keeping me out of trouble; the faculty and staff at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for the space to grow; Valerie Prince and Amee Carmines, Ph. Ds., for the "whipping" in the parking lot; my colleagues at Hampton University for your encouragement; Glo, Leah, and John for your support; for the wonderful faculty/staff associated with the MacArthur Scholars Program, Chicago State University, and the University of Minnesota, for helping me take school seriously; and finally the Library staff at Hampton University for their tireless efforts in assisting my requests ("thank God for Interlibrary Loan")—let me say, thank-you is not enough; for I would not have survived, let alone thrived, without your support, love, and help. v ABSTRACT THE POLITICS OF CREATION: THE SHORT STORY IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE US FEBRUARY 2007 LLOREN A. FOSTER, B.A., CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Steven C. Tracy, Ph.D. This study focuses on Blackness and shows how changes in its reflect arguments meaning about the short story as a fictional form. I argue that Blackness, as a socially constructed identity marker and the corresponding discourse designed to reify Whiteness, led to the evolution of an aesthetic consciousness that found critical and creative expression during the Black Power and Black Consciousness movements of the 1960s and 70s. In a process I call the "Politics of Creation," where Blackness and the short story move towards self-definition, we discover that Blackness and the short story reshape the socially constructed groupings designed to "fix" categories of people and genres. In chapter one reviewing the relevant literature concerning the origins of racial prejudice proves instructive for understanding the role of narrative in constructing discursive categories: i.e. Blackness and Whiteness. Chapter two addresses the historical context and introduces this study's attitudinal of "common ground." In chapter three, we see how the collective identity a vi community, marginalized by the "majority" status society (in this respect, the "imagined community" of Blackness), coalesces in response to white domination and becomes part of the larger culture of resistance known as the African diaspora. Examining Black participation in the discourse shows how "essentialism" racialized the ideological discourse. Chapter four reviews the critical literature on the short story and shows how its diminishment as a "minor" form of fiction, is analogous to the process by which Blackness was "othered." In chapter five, the short story and Blackness meet in a discussion of the aesthetic issues that fostered the explosion of African and Black Short Story anthologies and the growth of a critical discourse to offset the prejudicial attitudes expressed under the guise of "universalism." Using representative short stories by Henry Dumas, Toni Cade Bambara, Njabulo Ndebele, and Sindiwe Magona, chapter six addresses storytelling as "expressive" common ground, while revealing the "conflicts of unity" to Black solidarity. Chapter seven closes with a discussion of the commonalities I find in their writing styles. African American, African/a, Literary, Cultural, and Genre Studies will benefit from this study's insights into Black American and South African's reconsiderations of Blackness. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Pag ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1 . ORIGINS: BLACKNESS IN THE EYES OF WHITES 2. BLACKNESS AS COMMON GROUND Introduction Literature Review Common Ground Attitudinal Common Ground The Writers Conclusion 6: Endnotes 6: BLACKNESS: A DISCOURSE OF RESISTANCE 6! Introduction 6! Discussion of Blackness 6" Literature Review 7( Ideological Common Ground 81 Blackness and Freedom 8( Black Power and Black Consciousness 81 9' Black elite, middle class, and/or bourgeoisie Literacy 9v Discussion 9^ Conclusion 96 Endnotes 9' 4. THE SHORT STORY: THE RESISTANT FORM 1 02 Introduction 102 viii Edgar Allen Poe 103 The Politics of Creation ^ 06 Literature Review: Critical Conversations 107 Reader "Contract" 1 -j 2 "Minor" form ng Otherness 125 Consciousness in the Short Story 127 Dissertations 131 Conclusion ,.: 135 Endnotes 136 5. THE BLACK SHORT STORY: THE FORM OF RESISTANCE 141 Introduction 141 Literary Forms: A Discussion 145 Black Short Story in South Africa and the US 151 African and Black South African Short Story Anthologies 153 Black Short Story Anthologies in the US 159 Conclusion 167 Endnotes 168 6. STORYTELLING AND THE CONFLICTS OF UNITY 174 Introduction 174 Storytelling 179 The Trauma of "Living Black" 196 Conflicts of Unity 204 Conflicts of Allegiance 206 Generational Conflict 208 Section Conclusion 209 Henry Dumas 210 Introduction 210 211 Literature Review Textual Analysis: Generational Conflict 213 215 Textual Analysis: Conflicts of Allegiance 220 Section Conclusion ix Toni Cade Bambara 221 Introduction 221 Literature Review 222 Textual Analysis: Generational Conflict 224 Textual Analysis: Conflicts of Allegiance 227 Section Conclusion 231 Njabulo Ndebele 232 Introduction 232 Literature Review 232 Textual Analysis: Conflicts of Allegiance 238 Textual Analysis: Generational Conflict 242 Section Conclusion 245 Sindiwe Magona 246 Introduction 246 Literature Review 247 Textual Analysis: Generational Conflict 251 Textual Analysis: Conflicts of Allegiance 255 Section Conclusion 259 Chapter Conclusion 259 Endnotes 260 7. BY WAY OF A CONCLUSION 266 WORKS CITED 271 x INTRODUCTION Though editing, writing, and scripting for years, I did not acknowledge to myself that I was a writer, that writing was my way of doing my work in the world, . —that writing is a legitimate way, an important way, to participate in the empowerment of the community that names me. (Bambara qtd. in Evans 41, 42). In Western discourse, Blackness was created and simultaneously negated. For the purposes of this study, Blackness is a discourse that Whites and Blacks participate in, but to differing ends. On one hand, Blackness is a dehumanizing discourse written by Whites about Blacks. In creating the discourse 6f Whiteness to promote white supremacy, the discourse about Blackness surfaced and Whites used it to denigrate, objectify and "other" Blacks. Finally, it justified the subjugation of Blacks and defined