The Melancholy of Race - Psychoanalysis, Assimilation and Hidden Grief

Zusatztext We are a nation at ease with grievance but not with grief,' writes Anne Cheng in this probing and complex analysis of the processes by which we are all socialized into race. Through a wonderfully chosen series of literary and cultural phenomena, she captures both the hidden melancholy of those who, in order to conform to the American dream, learn to discriminate against themselves, and the even more hidden melancholy of a nation thus deprived of some of the most vital energies of its citizens. Informationen zum Autor Anne Anlin Cheng is Assistant Professor of English and American Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Klappentext In this groundbreaking, interdisciplinary study Anne A. Cheng argues that we have to understand racial grief not only as the result of racism but also as a foundation for racial identity. She proposes that racial identification is itself already a melancholy act - a social category that is imaginatively supported through a dynamic of loss and compensation, by which the racial other is at once rejected and retained, denigrated and idealized. Drawing upon history, literature and theatre - the book ranges from Rodgers and Hammerstein to David Henry Whang, Brown v. Board of Education to Anne Deveare Smith, Ralph Ellison to Maxine Hong Kingston - Cheng demonstrates that racial melancholia permeates our fantasies of citizenship, assimilation, and social health. A provocative look at a timely cultural dilemma, this study is essential reading for anyone interested in race studies, critical theory, or psychoanalysis. Zusammenfassung This study argues that racial grief is not only the result of racism but also a foundation for racial identity. It proposes that racial identification is itself a melancholy act - a social category supported by loss and compensation, rejecting and retaining, denigrating and idealizing the minority.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Anne Anlin Cheng, Cheng Anne Anlin
• Editore: Oxford University Press
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 01.02.2000
• EAN: 9780195134032
• ISBN: 978-0-19-513403-2
• Pagine: 286
• Dimensioni: 160 mm x 235 mm x 20 mm
• Serie: Print on demand; Race and American Culture
• Categorie: Saggistica; Ethnic Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Minority Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social discrimination & inequality, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, Social and cultural anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Biracial & Multiracial Studies, Racism and racial discrimination / Anti-racism, Social discrimination and social justice, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / General