ethnicity

Why We Read

A reader interested in race and ethnicity shares many of the same assumptions
and questions that all "ideological readers" ask except that this kind of reader is
keenly interested in how ethnic and racial groups are imagined, constructed,
identified, and represented. We could add that this kind of reader wants to
simultaneously critique representations complicit with racism while recovering,
rereading, and celebrating texts that address the interests and needs of people
of "minority" races and ethnicities. For example, Gates wants to "draw upon
and diverge from mainstream traditions and to delve into and derive principles
and practices from marginal traditions" (Leitch 89). In other words, the task is
to see how texts are marked by colonization and resistance, for every text is a
hybrid of some kind. We could sum up the aims and task of a race or ethnic
critic by saying there are actually three fronts (this is, obviously, strikingly
similar to the feminist project), for a reader wants to (1) question
representations of race and ethnicity that others have made, (2) recover works
that have been ignored and undervalued because readers have lacked the
proper reading strategies and prior acquaintance, (3) celebrate texts that
challenge or subvert traditional representations of people of color of different
ethnicities. However, be aware of "surface subversion" or texts that seem to
challenge traditional representations of race but reinforce them in new ways.

What We Read

Like other ideological readers, readers who pay attention to ethnicity focus on
racial representations of all kinds, particularly, but not always, representations
of people of color. Many readers are involved in an important project of
recovery. That is, ethnic and "minority" authors traditionally have been ignored,
discarded, and poorly appreciated, and we need to recover those texts and
offer new, more productive and insightful readings of these texts.

How We Read

Pay particularly close attention to representations of race and ethnicity and the
roles and place ethnic groups play in society. As noted above, keep in mind
these critical projects:

(1) question representations of race and ethnicity that others have made,

(2) recover works that have been ignored and undervalued because readers
have lacked the proper reading strategies and prior acquaintance,

(3) celebrate texts that challenge or subvert traditional representations of
people of color of different ethnicities.

To begin, ask these questions and direct your answers to one of the projects
described above. Creating a structuralist chart of binaries (what behaviors,
actions, qualities, places, ways of thinking, etc. are associated with race and
ethnicity or with particular kinds of ethnic groups or people within each group is
also a helpful pre-writing exercise (i.e. I'm reminded of texts that celebrate the
passive African American who "knows his place" as opposed to the
devalorized African American who "wants more than he should." For example,
many point to Bill Cosby as a positive representation of an African American,
but others points out that Cosby only complies with the accepted image of a
white middle-class citizen.)

� How are people of color represented or portrayed? What values, attitudes,
attributes, or characteristics are attributed to specific forms of ethnicity?

� What function or role do they have in the narrative or image?

� Are people of color the heroes/heroines or villains?

� What was the status of people of color when and where the text was
produced?

� Can you account for the past and present (un)popularity of the text in terms
of its racial (lack of) appeal?

� What racial/ethnic stereotypes are reinforced or debunked?

� Explore how the role of ethnic groups in stories, poems, novels, etc. works to
support or undermine the social and political system of the past and present
readers. In other words, why this text at this time? Why that text at that time?
You need to contextualize and historicize the text: How does this particular
representation of race or ethnicity function? Does the text reinforce or challenge
racism or ethnocentrism? What does it tell us if it does both simultaneously?

� How does ethnicity intersect with gender, class, and other social categories?

� How does form and function intersect? (i.e. What Toni Morrison says
intersects with how she says it.)

� What does the history of the work's reception by the public and by the critics
tell us about the operations of racism or ethnocentrism?

Writing Suggestions:

You have several choices here; choose a path:

A. Minority Critic as Cultural Critic:

Historicize and contextualize the text with an eye on race and ethnicity. When,
where, and why did the text appear? If you are dealing with ads, then you need
to reveal the network or magazine, the time of day (or issue date), the target
audience, between what TV show (or between what articles, etc.). If you are
dealing with a literary text, then you need to talk about the author, the location
of the text (is it part of an anthology or textbook? How would you characterize
the textbook?). You can choose to use surveys and field research or not. The
key here is to explain how your text functions or explain what role the text
plays. Does it reinforce or challenge traditional notions of race and ethnicity?
Has this function changed over time or changed when it is placed in a new
context?

B. Minority Critic as Literary Critic:

I don't mean to imply that ethnic/racial critique is ever ahistorical, but this
method emphasizes a text's relationship with other literary texts. Follow the
task suggested above, but connect your text with the literary tradition.(If your
text seems absent of race/ethnicity, then you will need to pay more attention to
how objects, places, or events are "coded." That is, is an object, place, or
event described in terms of race? For example, Disney's The Jungle Book
"codes" the apes as African American via voice and cultural associations).
Second, you will need to connect your text with the literary tradition. Is your
text part of a long tradition in its representations of race or does it seem to
break the cycle?

C. Minority Critic as Theorist:

This project focuses more on the act of reading and writing itself. Is it possible
to trace a difference in the way people of color and traditionally empowered
ethnic groups make sense of texts? If a non-minority does not like a "minority-
oriented" text, is it because she lacks the ability to "properly interpret and
appreciate minority texts-due, in large part, to a lack of prior acquaintance"
(282). If she does like it, is it because of some form of prior acquaintance? In
other words, this option requires you to link reading strategies with race, and
you can make the argument that a non-minority's failure to read a minority's text
"properly" is due to lack of experience or due to something more essential: It's
a "race thing." Try reading surveys to note differences between readers who
differ in terms of race/ethnicity to your text (Whom do readers identify with?
What aspects of the text appeal to readers? Do readers want to rewrite or
reimagine the text in different ways?). Do readers read differently? How so?
Why? What does language use have to do with race and ethnicity? Is there
such a thing as "Black discourse"? "white discourse"? "Asian discourse"? etc.
Organize your argument by proving that there is a pattern in your reader
surveys, and then move on to discuss the source and implications of those
patterns. In sum, this option requires you to link reading and writing strategies
with race and ethnicity.

As with gender, it's all about representation: How are people of color
represented and how should people of color represent themselves?