Kimberly Chabot Davis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038433
- eISBN:
- 9780252096310
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038433.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Critics often characterize white consumption of African American culture as a form of theft that echoes the fantasies of 1950s-era bohemians, or “White Negroes,” who romanticized black culture as ...
More
Critics often characterize white consumption of African American culture as a form of theft that echoes the fantasies of 1950s-era bohemians, or “White Negroes,” who romanticized black culture as anarchic and sexually potent. This book claims such a view fails to describe the varied politics of racial crossover in the past fifteen years. The book analyzes how white engagement with African American novels, film narratives, and hip-hop can help form anti-racist attitudes that may catalyze social change and racial justice. Though acknowledging past failures to establish cross-racial empathy, the book focuses on examples that show avenues for future progress and change. Its study of ethnographic data from book clubs and college classrooms shows how engagement with African American culture and pedagogical support can lead to the kinds of white self-examination that make empathy possible. The result is a book that challenges the trend of focusing on society's failures in achieving cross-racial empathy and instead explores possible avenues for change.Less
Critics often characterize white consumption of African American culture as a form of theft that echoes the fantasies of 1950s-era bohemians, or “White Negroes,” who romanticized black culture as anarchic and sexually potent. This book claims such a view fails to describe the varied politics of racial crossover in the past fifteen years. The book analyzes how white engagement with African American novels, film narratives, and hip-hop can help form anti-racist attitudes that may catalyze social change and racial justice. Though acknowledging past failures to establish cross-racial empathy, the book focuses on examples that show avenues for future progress and change. Its study of ethnographic data from book clubs and college classrooms shows how engagement with African American culture and pedagogical support can lead to the kinds of white self-examination that make empathy possible. The result is a book that challenges the trend of focusing on society's failures in achieving cross-racial empathy and instead explores possible avenues for change.
Kimberly Chabot Davis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038433
- eISBN:
- 9780252096310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038433.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter draws distinctions among the reading strategies of white readers in order to shed light on the failures and the political promise of cross-racial empathy. It focuses largely on ...
More
This chapter draws distinctions among the reading strategies of white readers in order to shed light on the failures and the political promise of cross-racial empathy. It focuses largely on middle-class white women as they encounter black-authored fiction within book-club settings. In contrast to much of the scholarship on cross-racial sympathy that replicates a monolithic view of whiteness, the chapter emphasizes how multiple identities of gender, class, age, ethnicity, education, and political affiliation work to complicate “white” modes of reading. Given the larger argument that empathy is a key ingredient in the development of anti-racist white identities, this chapter is structured to distinguish among different deployments of empathy and their political consequences.Less
This chapter draws distinctions among the reading strategies of white readers in order to shed light on the failures and the political promise of cross-racial empathy. It focuses largely on middle-class white women as they encounter black-authored fiction within book-club settings. In contrast to much of the scholarship on cross-racial sympathy that replicates a monolithic view of whiteness, the chapter emphasizes how multiple identities of gender, class, age, ethnicity, education, and political affiliation work to complicate “white” modes of reading. Given the larger argument that empathy is a key ingredient in the development of anti-racist white identities, this chapter is structured to distinguish among different deployments of empathy and their political consequences.
Kimberly Chabot Davis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038433
- eISBN:
- 9780252096310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038433.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This concluding chapter offers some final thoughts on cross-racial relationships, particularly from the author's personal experiences. It also reviews some literature, both fictional and otherwise, ...
More
This concluding chapter offers some final thoughts on cross-racial relationships, particularly from the author's personal experiences. It also reviews some literature, both fictional and otherwise, which engages with the issue of cross-racial empathy, supplemented likewise with the author's personal insights. Here the chapter reflects on ethnic difference and transitioning into what sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva calls a “racial progressive”—defined as a person who supports affirmative action and interracial marriage and who is convinced that racial discrimination is real. To conclude, the chapter argues that culture and cultural crossover alone are not enough to ensure social and political transformation. To do so, the chapter emphasizes the importance of education and activism in helping to effect these changes.Less
This concluding chapter offers some final thoughts on cross-racial relationships, particularly from the author's personal experiences. It also reviews some literature, both fictional and otherwise, which engages with the issue of cross-racial empathy, supplemented likewise with the author's personal insights. Here the chapter reflects on ethnic difference and transitioning into what sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva calls a “racial progressive”—defined as a person who supports affirmative action and interracial marriage and who is convinced that racial discrimination is real. To conclude, the chapter argues that culture and cultural crossover alone are not enough to ensure social and political transformation. To do so, the chapter emphasizes the importance of education and activism in helping to effect these changes.
Kimberly Chabot Davis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038433
- eISBN:
- 9780252096310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038433.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter turns to the medium of film and a different demographic group and reception context: the college classroom. It analyzes the responses of college students to two films about interracial ...
More
This chapter turns to the medium of film and a different demographic group and reception context: the college classroom. It analyzes the responses of college students to two films about interracial conflict: Do the Right Thing (produced by the black director and screenwriter Spike Lee) and Crash (produced by the white director and screenwriter Paul Haggis). This chapter also examines how white students' responses to Do the Right Thing became increasingly empathetic when Lee's film was viewed in context-rich ethnic-studies courses, where students were exposed to numerous African American writers and filmmakers. Although this chapter addresses formidable roadblocks to cross-racial empathy, this comparative study of non-empathetic versus empathetic viewers suggests that white ways of seeing, particularly among young adults, are open to revision rather than fixed.Less
This chapter turns to the medium of film and a different demographic group and reception context: the college classroom. It analyzes the responses of college students to two films about interracial conflict: Do the Right Thing (produced by the black director and screenwriter Spike Lee) and Crash (produced by the white director and screenwriter Paul Haggis). This chapter also examines how white students' responses to Do the Right Thing became increasingly empathetic when Lee's film was viewed in context-rich ethnic-studies courses, where students were exposed to numerous African American writers and filmmakers. Although this chapter addresses formidable roadblocks to cross-racial empathy, this comparative study of non-empathetic versus empathetic viewers suggests that white ways of seeing, particularly among young adults, are open to revision rather than fixed.
