Historical reinterpretations of race: breaking stereotypes, creating archetypes

<p>This thesis aims to look at ways race has historically united, rather than divided, marginalized groups (specifically African Americans and Asian Americans). I am interested in ways race has shifted from a demarcation between superiority and inferiority to becoming a political and social weapon. I am interested in ways of empowering nonwhite racial identities through historical reinterpretations seeking to recognize histories of mutuality-with special attention to resistance-despite coming out of specific traditions. Thus, I investigate the construction of Carlos Bulosan's America Is in the Heart and Richard Wright's Black Boy and observe ways in which the author's decision to speak from a collective, rather than an individual perspective parallels, but more significantly, foreshadows the formation of contemporary racial identities (i.e. of African Americans and Asian Americans) who have merged together from a heterogeneity of ethnicities. By embracing the role of "representative" for Asians and Blacks, Bulosan and Wright intended to reclaim the humanity of those who were historically objectified and stripped of their humanity through stereotypes within the dominant society. Both Bulosan's America Is in the Heart and Wright's Black Boy sought to articulate how they perceived themselves rather than how they were perceived by society. Thus, I view America Is in the Heart and Black Boy as creating prototypes or "archetypes" that reveal recurring themes of not only oppression but also of those resisting oppression, aiming to resignify (to use Judith Butler's term) what it means to be Asian and Black within American society.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis

Department dc:contributor.department

Department of English

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Kozar, Meaghan

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-6743

Identifier

archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/16110/

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dr.lib.iastate.edu:20.500.12876/69814