“FROM MARGIN TO CENTRE”: SUZANNE ALEXANDER IN KENNEDY’S OHIO STATE MURDERS

Year 2022, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 126 - 143, 02.11.2022

Latifa Jabboury

Abstract

Kennedy’s theatrical work reflects a great amount of anxious consciousness of the black American woman who is often confused and on disputes with the world around her. These elements of confusion, anxiety and despondency work as main tools to depict the life of black women in everyday situations in the 1950s American society. Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders portrays Suzanne Alexander, a famous writer from Cleveland who has been invited to her “alma mater” to recite a lecture about her experience in the past and her literary career.

The present paper investigates the power relations in Kennedy’s play through the framework of black feminism. Therefore, the study focuses on the intermingling aspects of race, gender and class in the play. Analyzing the play within the intersectional perspectives helps to shed a light on the way these aspects collaborated to form the disenfranchisement of the protagonist Suzanne Alexander when she was a young woman.

This study is built on three axes; the first axis presents an introductory discussion on Ohio State Murders, the second axis is a reading on the intersectionality perspectives through the context of power relations in the play, the third axis concentrates on the agents of empowerment in the play. The paper ends with a conclusion which brings out the findings of the study.

Keywords

power relations, black feminism, Ohio State Murder marginality oppression

Supporting Institution

Mustansiriyah University

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