{"id":511,"date":"2009-03-25T13:44:37","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T18:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/?p=511"},"modified":"2009-03-25T13:44:51","modified_gmt":"2009-03-25T18:44:51","slug":"postmodernism-and-the-%e2%80%9cblack-experience%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/?p=511","title":{"rendered":"Postmodernism and the \u201cBlack Experience\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several posts have interrogated the placement of the novel Beloved <\/em>within the framework of postmodernism. At first, I was also curious about the connection between postmodernism and historical fiction. Reading Davis\u2019 article cleared up a few things, including the idea that rewriting history, or \u201crememory\u201d as she terms it, can alter our view and understanding of history. However, I was still unsure about the reading of Beloved <\/em>with a postmodern lens. (This has nothing to do with the contention that Morrison does not actually see her work as postmodern. Since postmodernism calls for the figurative \u201cdeath of the author,\u201d her opinion should not influence our understanding of the novel nor should it discourage us from thinking critically about the novel\u2019s place within the postmodern critical framework.)<\/p>\n

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In an attempt to understand the connection between Beloved <\/em>and postmodernism, I searched for any literature on the discussion of \u201cpostmodern blackness,\u201d and found a useful article by bell hooks, published in Postmodern Culture <\/em>in September 1990 (http:\/\/www.africa.upenn.edu\/Articles_Gen\/Postmodern_Blackness_18270.html<\/a>). Hooks argues that racism is actually perpetuated \u201cwhen blackness is associated solely with a concrete gut level [black] experience conceived either as opposing or having no connection to abstract thinking and the production of critical theory.\u201d Although Hooks is skeptical about a clear relationship between postmodernism and the \u201cblack experience,\u201d she is also skeptical of the tendency primarily of black literary scholars to dismiss the probability that there may<\/em> be a meaningful connection there. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Hooks realizes that the black experience has been left out of the discussion of postmodernism: \u201cSince much of this theory has been constructed in reaction to and against high modernism, there is seldom any mention of black experience or writings by black people in this work, specifically black women.\u201d In light of this absence of black experience within postmodern works, she finds it strange and ironic that postmodernist discourse has often suggested that discussions of \u201cdifference and otherness\u201d are considered legitimate issues in postmodernist thought: \u201cIt is sadly ironic that the contemporary discourse which talks the most about heterogeneity, the decentered subject, declaring breakthroughs that allow recognition of otherness, still directs its critical voice primarily to a specialized audience, one that shares a common language rooted in the very master narratives it claims to challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Now that I think about it, even Haraway\u2019s discussion on cyborgs recognizes the necessity for innovative ways of operating and of relating to others in a postmodern world where partial identities are the standard rather than the deviation. In keeping with Haraway\u2019s vision for a definition of feminism that is \u201cnot afraid of permanently partial identities and contradictory standpoints,\u201d cyborg theory accounts for and welcomes so-called \u2018contradictory standpoints\u2019 from women who are different in class, ethnicity, sexuality, age, nationality, religious beliefs, political party, and physical ability. Hooks seems to agree with this: \u201cRadical postmodernist practice, most powerfully conceptualized as a \u2018politics of difference,\u2019 should incorporate the voices of displaced, marginalized, exploited, and oppressed black people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hooks concludes her discussion by asserting that \u201cpostmodern critiques of essentialism which challenge notions of universality and static over-determined identity within mass culture and mass consciousness can open up new possibilities for the construction of the [African American] self and the assertion of agency.\u201d I think this is a useful statement because it compels us to consider the benefits <\/em>of viewing blackness and the black experience within another critical framework. Such a critique allows us to affirm the existence of multiple black identities, or a varied black experience, thereby challenging archetypes of black identity which represent blackness as one-dimensional in ways that reinforce white supremacy (Hooks).<\/p>\n

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Hence, I do believe that it is beneficial to discuss works of fiction that are not typically recognized as postmodern (such as Morrison\u2019s Beloved<\/em>) in a class on postmodernism. Confining our discussions of postmodernism to certain texts that are clearly <\/em>postmodern defeats the purpose of making new connections and understanding the discourse from varied points of view. For example, if we don\u2019t connect postmodernism to our discussion of Beloved, <\/em>we may not be able to critically think about the fragmented identities of the characters in the novel as decentered subjects in relation to history, as Davis suggests. We may only<\/em> be inclined to discuss the novel in light of the generic one-size-fits-all black experience that Hooks is desperately trying to escape. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several posts have interrogated the placement of the novel Beloved within the framework of postmodernism. At first, I was also curious about the connection between postmodernism and historical fiction. Reading Davis\u2019 article cleared up a few things, including the idea that rewriting history, or \u201crememory\u201d as she terms it, can alter our view and understanding … Continue reading Postmodernism and the \u201cBlack Experience\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-10-beloved"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}