You guys remember Josh Swayne? Or Jarvis? (Take a moment for a nostalgic sigh.) Anyway, Josh wrote an article for the Whitworthian a couple years ago that seems particularly relevant to our current study of bell hooks.
The article, called "Identity as 'black' lies in one's own interpretation," pointed out the ways that notions of a unified black identity often alienated certain black students who shared the skin color but not the same sense of identification with the constructed black identity. It brought to the surface the way that students can feel when the color of their skin is regarded as the most important part of them.
Even if it isn't skin color, there are other racial and ethnic identities which ought to be secondary to the experience of any given individual, black or otherwise.
When Swayne draws his conclusion, he is actually arguing for what hooks would call the "authority of experience":
So my fellow white people, if people you know use "black" to describe themselves, let them define "black" as they use it to express their identity, but get to know that identity, black and otherwise. Better than wondering what "black" means would be wondering how someone is doing, who they are and what they are truly like.
"Authority of experience," in my understanding, means that the lived identities of black people are more significant to who they are than their black essence. Asking how someone is doing is an alternative that focuses on the experience of that person, rather than his or her racial category.
Through quoting Jarvis, Swayne shows that not all black people even perceive the black identity as relevant to them, showing the separation from the constructed notion of "blackness" and the reality of possessing dark skin:
Junior Jarvis Lunalo is from Kenya. He identifies himself as black, but for him "black" simply means he has dark skin, and he chooses to identify himself as a Kenyan, not as a member of the black community, while in the United States. One of Lunalo's complaints about the U.S. is that people, when they learn he is from Kenya, make asking him about Kenya the basis of their friendship with him.
This article reveals the social and political importance for a broad understanding of Postmodern Blackness at Whitworth.
Jacque, nice connection. I think what Josh and Jarvis (and bell hooks) are saying about "being black" is pretty similar to what some of our feminists are trying to say about "being female". It is part of who we/they are, but it is only part as we acknowledge it as part and then as we define it as part. The problem with things like the "Apology to Women" video is that it continues to place a definition within the one aspect of personhood when 1. that is not the full self and 2. how that aspect applies to the self depends on the person and can manifest itself in totally different ways.
ReplyDeleteStill, it's interesting that we tend to categorize our/selves/ at the same time. We have clubs designated to separate our groups from each other (like the Black Student Union) or we grab a group of people from our gender to go to the bathroom with us (okay this is pretty much just women that do this). We become uncomfortable when a person from another group is around because we wanted to talk about "girl things" and we can't do that with so-and-so around. This attitude is not totally illegitimate. Consider the Black Student Union I mentioned a moment ago, which exists to help support black students who may feel marginalized or alienated. At the same time, we are severely reinforcing group mentality by buying into it ourselves.
Jacque,
ReplyDeleteGood post. I do like the connection w/ hooks and all. And, yes, I do think that identification w/a group does involve some sort of responsibility to know or to experience that group, not just thinking about oneself a certain way.