The Race for Theory - Essay Sample

Barbara Christian Discusses “Hieroglyphics” in Relationship to Black Theorization

Christian explains what she terms as the Western Philosophers taking over the literary world from the old elite. This action by Western Philosophers has resulted from the now despair-laden, pallid, disconnected, and self-indulgent Western literature. The new philosophers in their attempt to grasp hold of an elusive political world, have given new meaning to literature such that such that the difference between literature that expresses thought and literature that evokes feelings has become unclear (Christian, 1987). Western Philosophers have given a meaning to theory by altering the critical literary language.

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The people who have made the takeover possible are powerful people that can easily get their literature published. In effect, a few black women in the third world countries who have been daring and possibly revolutionary critics have fallen under the influence to speak an alien language that is contrary to their most important needs. Theorization has always occurred for black people but in but in a unique form, unlike the abstract logic of the West. Christian further claims that black theorization is usually in narrative forms like proverbs, riddles, and stories. This theorization is the reason for their survival with a constant attack on their countries, social institutions, and bodies.

The pithy language with which the black women discovered the world's power relations and the pleasure of playing with it is what the author finds worth celebrating. Therefore, they have become accustomed to the race for theory but majorly in the hieroglyph form. This is an abstract and sensual written figure that is communicative and beautiful. Further, she explains the urge to explain the hieroglyphs in her work which is distinct from the creation of the actual hieroglyphs.

Barbara Christian's Article is Titled "A Race for Theory"

The title "Race for Theory" is a play on words that implies how serious the issue of racism has become in literature. She claims that American academia ignores literature by black people in their institutions. This is because the white Philosophers feel that their literature is superior to black literature hence excluding black theories in totality. Christian believes that "many of black literature are central, not minor," and they should receive as much respect as literature that white scholars have created (Christian, 1987). Considering literature as superior because of the writer's race rather than the content of the work is a massive blow to efforts to promote equality of races.

For a hundred years, African-American writers, beginning with Charles Chestnutt and Richard Wright protested against literature of dominance that declared when literature is great depending on how they benefit from it (Baker and Robinson, 2018). Numerous groups have continuously rejected the view of the white scholars that their literature is superior. Some of these groups include The Black Arts Movement and the Feminist Literary Movement (Baker and Robinson, 2018). The view of the whites that other races' theories are inferior while their theories are major is misguided. In Christian's view, there is no major and minor. She challenges the white supremacists to break the boundary between 'central' and 'minor.' She believes that minority literature is also very significant.

Therefore, the title relates to Christian's arguments about what it means to create theory in that literature should not be differentiated due to its author. Institutions should accept black literature and disregard White supremacist views concerning the kind of literature that is suitable for academia.

Concepts From Barbara Christian’s Article

Christian is shocked by the idea that authors no longer exist and writing literature is now the work of philosophers. She is surprised that the same scholars who refer to themselves as Marxists could attempt to critique the origin of their language using the metaphysical language that they did. According to her, the language that they use has overly complex sentences and lacks clarity. While attempting to alter the Western scholarship's orientation, they ended up concentrating on themselves and were hardly interested in the traditional world they ignored. This clearly shows that some scholars have selfish interests at heart rather than the fighting for the acceptance of black literature. Some of these scholars disguise themselves under movements that fight for the acceptance of black women literature while they have a hidden motive (Baker and Robinson, 2018).

Conclusion

In Christian's view, many writers have developed an obsession with the nature of literature at the expense of writing today's literature. In essence, the notion that black literature is overly political originated from a new belief by Western Philosophers that every literature has a silent meaning. Western Philosophers will spend a lot of their time attempting to find out the deeper meaning of black literature aside from is on the surface. These observations have led to an increase in literature that critiques the work of other writers rather than focusing on issues that relate to society and delivering content that can be useful in academia. In the race for theory, black feminists should be more aggressive in employing methods and coming up with solutions that will make their literature difficult to ignore. Formation of Afro-American groups to fight for these rights has been an effective strategy that has not been good enough to produce the desired results.

References

Baker, L., & Robinson, T. J. (2018). Black Arts Movement. Black Power Encyclopedia: From" Black is Beautiful" to Urban Uprisings [2 volumes], 78.

Christian, B. (1987). The race for theory. Cultural Critique, (6), 51-63.