What is it about?
The article considers the significance of racial shame for the constitution of the black subject and determines its implications for our reading of invisibility in Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man.
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Why is it important?
I argue that shame as affective experience cannot be overlooked in the formation of a racialized subject. Shame both foments the violence of internalized oppression and the violence of self-valorizing orthodoxy in black nationalisms. However, the regimes of identification that articulate our racialized existence are shown to be effectively undermined by Ellison’s intervention in the racial imaginary, testifying to his ability to look beyond the blockages of his present and anticipate alternate forms of subjectivity that are yet to be realized in the constituencies of our history.
Perspectives
The article contributes to an understanding of shame as a significant mechanism in subject formation that can be leveraged both as a means of oppression but also as a means of resistance and I hope you''ll find it challenging and intriguing.
Dr Zlatan Filipovic
Jonkoping University
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This page is a summary of: Black and Ashamed, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.4324/9781315158754-7.
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