Critical Race Theory in Literature: In The Blood By Suzan-Lori Parks

Year 2024, Issue: Edebiyat Kuramları ve Eleştiri Özel Sayısı, 206 - 223, 31.10.2024

Tuba Baykara

https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.1552906

Abstract

This study seeks to explore the fundamental principles of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and to use it as an analytical tool in order to discuss Suzan-Lori Parks’s play, In The Blood. Through the key tenets of CRT such as the systematic racism, race as a social construct, intersectionality and power structures, it is framed a comprehensive theoretical background for a literary analysis. Relatedly, the primary focus of this study is to deeply analyze race, gender, power relations and socio-economic conditions with CRT through the playwright’s innovative representation of blackness. CRT clearly shows that racism is constructed through discriminative practices and sustained by law and institutions resulting in justification and accordingly normalization of oppression. In line with CRT’s main concerns, In The Blood embodies societal and ideological barriers and the dehumanization of black female bodies through social judgment, racial and gender discrimination, and motherhood. CRT essentially deals with how Parks reconstructs traditional narratives of guilt, shame, and femininity and claims that Hester is portrayed both as a victim of intersectional oppression and an individual struggling with the harsh conditions of life.

Keywords

Critical Race Theory (CRT), literary analysis, racism, intersectionality, Suzan-Lori-Parks, In The Blood.

Edebiyatta Eleştirel Irk Kuramı: Suzan-Lori Parks'ın In The Blood Oyunu

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Eleştirel Irk Kuramı’nın (EIK) temel ilkelerini ortaya çıkarmayı ve Suzan-Lori Parks’ın In The Blood adlı oyununu irdelemek için bunu analitik bir araç olarak kullanmayı amaçlamaktadır. Sistematik ırkçılık, toplumsal kurgu olarak ırk, kesişimsellik ve güç yapıları gibi EIK’nın temel ilkeleri aracılığıyla, edebi bir analiz için kapsamlı bir teorik arka plan oluşturulmaktadır. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmanın odak noktası, EIK’yı kullanarak cinsiyet, güç ilişkileri ve sosyo-ekonomik koşulları, yazarın siyahiliği temsili aracılığıyla derinlemesine analiz etmektir. EIK, ırkçılığın ayrımcı uygulamalarla inşa edildiğini ve baskının meşrulaştırılması ve buna bağlı olarak normalleştirilmesiyle sonuçlanan yasa ve kurumlar tarafından sürdürüldüğünü açıkça göstermektedir. EIK’nın temel prensipleri doğrultusunda, In The Blood oyunu, toplumsal yargılama, ırk ve cinsiyet ayrımcılığı ve annelik aracılığı ile toplumsal ve ideolojik engelleri ve siyahi kadın bedenlerin insanlıktan çıkarılmasını somutlaştırmaktadır. EIK esasen Parks'ın suçluluk, utanç ve kadınlığa dair geleneksel anlatıları nasıl yeniden yapılandırdığına odaklanmaktadır ve Hester'ı hem kesişimsel baskının kurbanı hem de hayatın zorlu koşullarıyla mücadele eden bir birey olarak tasvir edildiğini öne sürmektedir.

Keywords

Eleştirel Irk Kuramı (EIK), edebi analiz, ırkçılık, kesişimsellik, Suzan-Lori-Parks, In The Blood.

References

• Black, C. (2012).“A” is for Abject: The Red Letter Plays of Suzan-Lori Parks. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 26 (2), 31-56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/dtc.2012.0013
• Brooks, W. (2009). An Author as a Counter-Storyteller: Applying Critical Race Theory to a Coretta Scott King Award Book. Children’s Literature in Education, 40, 33-45. DOI: 10.1007/s10583-008-9065-9
• Bowman, L., Rocco, T. S., Peterson, E. and Adker, W., A. (2009). Utilizing the Lens of Critical Race Theory to Analyze Stories of Race. Adult Education Research Conference. https://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2009/papers/7
• Collins, P. H. and Bilge, S. (2020). Intersectionality (2nd Edition). Polity Press.
• Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139-167.
• Çakırtaş, Ö. (2020). Ten ve Kimlik: Çağdaş İngiliz Tiyatrosu. Çizgi Press.
• Collins, P. H. and Bilge, S. (2020). Intersectionality (2nd Edition). Polity Press.
• Delgado, R. and Stefancic, J. (2023). Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (4th Edition). New York University Press.
• Dietrick, J. (2010). “A Full Refund Aint Enough”: Money in Suzan-Lori Parks’s Red Letter Plays. In P. C. Kollin (Ed.), Suzan-Lori Parks: Essays on the Plays and Other Works (pp. 88-102). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson.
• Essed, P. (2002). Everyday Racism. In D. T. Goldberg and J. Solomon (Eds.), A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies (pp. 202-216). Blackwell.
• Eustis, O. (2018). Introduction. In M. Subias (Ed.), The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary American Plays Volume Two (pp. 284-286). Oberon Books.
• Fanon, F. (1967). Black Skin, White Masks. Grove Press.
• Fraden, R. (2007). Suzan-Lori Parks’ Hester Plays: “In the Blood and Fucking A”. The Massachusetts Review, 48, (3), 434-454.
• Ghasemi, M. (2017). A Study of Intersectionality in Suzan-Lori Parks’s Fucking A. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 3 (4), 61-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2017.0013.
• Hawthorne, N. (1850). The Scarlet Letter. Signet Classic. Jewel, D. (2020). (De)constructing imagination: Racial bias and counter-storytelling in young adult speculative fiction. Study and Scrutiny, 4(1), 11-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2376- 5275.2020.4.1.1-28
• Larson, J. (2012). Understanding Suzan-Lori Parks. The University of South Carolina Press.
• Lynn, M. and Adams, M. (2002). Introductory Overview to the Special Issue Critical Race Theory and Education: Recent Developments in the Field. Equity and Excellence in Education, 35, 87-92.
• Mills, K. and Unsworth, L. (2018). The multimodal construction of race: a review of critical race theory research. Language and Education, 32(4), 313-332. DOI: 10.1080/09500782.2018.1434787
• Moret-Jankus, P. and Toth, A. J. (2019). Introduction. In P. Moret-Jankus and A. J. Toth (Eds), Race Theory and Literature: Dissemination, Criticism, Intersections (pp. 1-7). Cambridge Scholar Publishing.
• Ozieblo, B. (2007). The ‘fun that I had’: The theatrical gendering of Suzan-Lori Parks’s ‘figures’. In K. J. Wetmore Jr and A. Smith-Howard (Eds.), Suzan-Lori Parks: A Casebook (pp. 48-60). Routledge.
• Parks, S. L. (2005). New Black Math. Theatre Journal, 57 (4), 576-583.
• Parks, S. L. (2001). The Red Letter Plays: In The Blood and Fucking A. Theatre Communication Group.
• Parks, S. L. (1995). Elements of Style. In S. L. Parks (writ.), The America Play and Other Works (pp. 6-18). Theatre Communication Group.