Othering and Internalisation of Stereotypes in Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye'

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject American Studies - Literature, University of Nottingham (School of Canadian and American Studies), course: American studies, language: English, abstract: Racism and sexism are endemic to the stereotypical 'othering' enterprise that brackets black female subjectivity in a forced homogeneity. Doubly stereotyped as the racial and sexual 'other', black women risk being forced to signify the negative counterpart in a binary system of cultural and political representation. Usually white and male, the defining subject associates negatively inflected traits with the defined 'other' - in this context a black female - while reserving positive attributes for its own definition and identification. In recasting black women's subjectivity in fiction, Morrison admits the existence of racial and sexual stereotypes. From her first published novel, 'The Bluest Eye', Morrison challenges and deconstructs the double plight of black women in the U.S. by exposing, first, the processes involved in racial and gendered 'othering' and, second, the consequent internalised effects that transmute into 'self-othering.'

Mohamed Sghir Syad has a Licence in English Language and Literature (Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco), an MA in Drama and Theatre (The School of Comparative Studies, Essex University, UK), and a PhD in American Studies (The School of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham, UK). He lectures at Cadi Ayyad University and Sultan Moulay Slimane University (Beni Mellal, Morocco), and is currently director of The Research Laboratory in Culture and Communication at Sultan Moulay Slimane University. His current research interests include Critical Race Theory, African American Studies, Women's Writing, Feminism and Postmodernism.