What Role Does Text Play In The Reproduction Of Racism

Dijik (2007) states that despite discourse and racism not being popular combinations for discussion, text plays a ‘vital role in the reproduction of racism’’. As a scholar of linguistic devices, he believed that racial discourse had become ingrained in daily life allowing him to outline to identify unique structures to discourse. He differentiates between nonverbal and verbal structures such as syntax, often used to understate responsibility with the use of passive and non-passive sentences. In comparison intonation such as speaking too loudly or slowly can be used to disrespect or condescend a certain race. The use of linguistic techniques such as these are used by the media and other forms of written communication to portray racism. As the …show more content…
Dijik (2007) argues that schemata is a form of a global discourse organization. Positive topics are chosen for the prominent racial class whilst negative topics for the other creating an us against them narrative in the media. Racism.org states that schemas influence every aspect of human cognition such as reactions and memories. By stating this, they acknowledge that these processes become automatic and happen instantaneously without permission. If used by either Ellinson or Fanon a sympathetic narrative for racist characters could be created as being ‘’products of their time’’. It could also be used to explain the narrator’s self-hate as being indoctrinated and involuntary due to societal pressures creating another level of pathos for the …show more content…
This links to Fanon’s argument that post-colonialism has led to a political struggle between the former colonies and colonizers often expressed through education and behaviour. Discourse according to Doane transcends communication and is an attempt to ‘’influence both the rulers of the game and other’s perceptions of social reality’’ The use of the term social reality links to the aforementioned schemata, the continued description that racial discourse is used to indoctrinate a population highlight it as a necessary criteria to analysis the text. The invisible man alludes towards Marxist class politics throughout the story, however in his writings Marx himself made no allusions to race. Paul Bohmer (1998) revised Marx’s writings to focus on race. Discussing how racism serves the interests of the bourgeoisie as it divides both black and white workers ‘’reducing their unity and bargaining power’’. This creates a segmented labour force as black labourers are intentionally paid lesser than their white counterparts causing them to become resentful to each other and not their