Blackness

cunning, that's all'(WSS,11), only marks out what is not there and makes plain the impossibility of any appeal to the past against an equally feared future. It is a past only existing in the parenthesis; 'My father, visitors, horses, feeling safe in bed-all belonged to the past'(WSS,5). The novel's figure for its own narrative is Antionette's dream, with its twice delayed near the conclusion and its dreaded but inevitable forward propulsion. The dream in a sense suggests a subsuming of the…

The “environmental sculptor”, Andy Goldsworthy, was born in 1956 in England and began his work in the 1970’s (Hurley). He works closely with an environment and uses only the materials available there to create his art. To document his work, he takes photographs before the sculpture is transformed by natural processes such as wind or water. He also writes a short poem about each piece to describe its construction in place of a title. The photographs utilize the surrounding environment and they…

The constructions of race and sexuality in Brazilian society parallel those of other societies – North American and European – while simultaneously being extremely distinct, unique in that they are the primary characteristics shaping identity construction in Brazil. Because standards of beauty based on a literal spectrum of skin color transforms sexuality in Brazilian favelas into a racial matter, race and sexuality are closely intertwined and in turn influence the social mobility in favelas of…

but after taking this class, I learned that it was so much more. Before, I thought I had Blackness figured out seeing that I am a Black woman, but after taking Introduction to the Black Experience, I have learned that there is so much history and ideology I have yet to learn or hear about. More than anything, this class gave me the validation and confidence needed to express my opinions and embrace my Blackness. By taking this class, I was able to understand that my Black classmates had the same…

August tenth of 2013, is the last day I remember. For the next hundred or so days after the aforementioned one, I don’t have a clue as to how they happened. The hardest part was, perhaps, my crumbling again, anxiety like I’d never had before. But not on August tenth. The first day of a new team and the last day of supposed sanity, I distinctly remember being afraid to be left alone with the then strangers. That had become the norm for me. Eighth grade. At this time I was moving forward, slowly…

Within the field of Social Psychology, the most agreed upon age at which children form and begin to follow cultural stereotypes is age five (Psychology Today). Mattel Inc., the company that owns Barbie, starts marketing their dolls to children ages three and up. As more than a doll, as a role model and a representation of the ideal woman, Barbie’s form, perceived values, and lack of authenticity create a complicated paradox between celebrating diversity, perpetuating colonialism, and sexualizing…

Mary Crow Dog gives insight into her dynamic life as a half white, half Lakota, woman in her novel, Lakota Woman. Being of mixed race, I found that Mary Crow Dog and I shared similar feelings rooted within our ethnicity. In Mary’s life, mainly her childhood and young adulthood, she found herself caught in between her white and Native American sides. She was constantly being urged to assimilate into white culture by her “full-blooded” family, even though she gravitated towards the Lakota culture…

In T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” Eliot details and laments about the meaninglessness pitiful existence of men, whom he describes as hollow, and the overall decline of contemporary society. The characterization of the hollow men perfectly fits many of the characters who exist in the world of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Indeed, both authors explore the innate emptiness of human life and the ignorance of humanity to its emptiness throughout their literary pieces. Such ignorance causes…

Introduction The popular television show “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” first aired on September 10th, 1990 (IMDb, 2016). The television show grew in popularity and lasted until May 20th, 1996, consisting of six seasons and 148 episodes (IMDb, 2016). The protagonist of the sitcom, Will Smith, is a young Black street-smart teenager born and raised in a working class neighbourhood who is forced to move to his affluent Aunt and Uncle's house in Bel-Air, California. Will's Mother forces him to move as a…

Young black men in America face a great number of challenges. Challenges for a greater chance of them being unemployed. Higher incarceration rates. Greater chances of being killed due to the color of their skin. Being a successful African-American in America is difficult, but not unattainable. Not all African-Americans are “homogenous”, meaning not all Blacks are one or have the same views. Not all Black people share the same beliefs on sex, gender, police brutality or even race. You have…