Sahibs with Black Faces? - Installing and Escaping Whiteness in Rudyard Kipling's 'Kim'

Installing and Escaping Whiteness in Rudyard Kipling's ?Kim?

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Drama, Anthologies
Cover of the book Sahibs with Black Faces? - Installing and Escaping Whiteness in Rudyard Kipling's 'Kim' by Heiko Kumsteller, GRIN Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Heiko Kumsteller ISBN: 9783638682497
Publisher: GRIN Publishing Publication: April 16, 2007
Imprint: GRIN Publishing Language: English
Author: Heiko Kumsteller
ISBN: 9783638682497
Publisher: GRIN Publishing
Publication: April 16, 2007
Imprint: GRIN Publishing
Language: English

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, Free University of Berlin (Institut für Englische Philologie), course: PS/ Blindness to Whiteness? Whiteness in Literature, 5 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In recent years, more and more attention has been drawn to the study of whiteness, that is, to the way in which whiteness - the state of being of white complexion, and, therefore, of the 'white' race - is perceived, both by whites and non-whites, as a race-category, and, ultimately, as a fact; and how this perception came about, how it was constructed - and to what end. Authors like Richard Dyer, among others, have begun deconstructing what has become the commonly accepted perception of white image1, and white self-image, and have found out that whiteness, as a race-category, has, over centuries, been constructed, by white authors and white authorities the world over, into something that has assumed an almost normative function - representing a racial 'norm', used to compare, distinguish and ultimately separate those who deviate from the norm, and thereby installing a device of control and, at its heart, a white, Eurocentric view of the world. Alongside their discoveries, scholars like Eric Lott have begun turning their interest to a different question: if, as Dyer had stated, the construction of whiteness was a means of establishing power, then what reason was there for white people to impersonate nonwhites, a phenomenon that had come to broader attention in the early 19th century with the emergence of minstrelsy and so-called 'blackface'-performances? In this paper, I will give a short overview on the theories of Eric Lott and David R. Roediger regarding this point and, set before the background of these theories, present a reading of Rudyard Kipling's novel 'Kim' in which I will try to determine in how far the protagonist - a young orphan living on the streets of Lahore, India - is constructed as a white person, to what extend he may be said to be using 'blackface', in what manner he profits from these two facts, and, ultimately, what might be derived from this regarding the construction of white - non-white identities and relations in the novel. == 1 In 'White', 1997

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, Free University of Berlin (Institut für Englische Philologie), course: PS/ Blindness to Whiteness? Whiteness in Literature, 5 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In recent years, more and more attention has been drawn to the study of whiteness, that is, to the way in which whiteness - the state of being of white complexion, and, therefore, of the 'white' race - is perceived, both by whites and non-whites, as a race-category, and, ultimately, as a fact; and how this perception came about, how it was constructed - and to what end. Authors like Richard Dyer, among others, have begun deconstructing what has become the commonly accepted perception of white image1, and white self-image, and have found out that whiteness, as a race-category, has, over centuries, been constructed, by white authors and white authorities the world over, into something that has assumed an almost normative function - representing a racial 'norm', used to compare, distinguish and ultimately separate those who deviate from the norm, and thereby installing a device of control and, at its heart, a white, Eurocentric view of the world. Alongside their discoveries, scholars like Eric Lott have begun turning their interest to a different question: if, as Dyer had stated, the construction of whiteness was a means of establishing power, then what reason was there for white people to impersonate nonwhites, a phenomenon that had come to broader attention in the early 19th century with the emergence of minstrelsy and so-called 'blackface'-performances? In this paper, I will give a short overview on the theories of Eric Lott and David R. Roediger regarding this point and, set before the background of these theories, present a reading of Rudyard Kipling's novel 'Kim' in which I will try to determine in how far the protagonist - a young orphan living on the streets of Lahore, India - is constructed as a white person, to what extend he may be said to be using 'blackface', in what manner he profits from these two facts, and, ultimately, what might be derived from this regarding the construction of white - non-white identities and relations in the novel. == 1 In 'White', 1997

More books from GRIN Publishing

Cover of the book Staffing in Educational Institutions: Experiences from Tanzania by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Side effects of an economic treaty on national security policy by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book The Significance of Eating and the Feast in Homer's 'Odyssey' by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Einkommensteuerliche und gewerbesteuerliche Behandlung der Einkünfte des Komplementärs einer KGaA by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Concentration processes on the U.S. book market by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Flow, motivation, and job-change history in British and Hong Kong Chinese workers by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Gothic Fiction and 'The Turn of The Screw' by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book 'I don't want no double negation!' by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book The Morphology of African American English in African American rap lyrics by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Zur Einordnung der Kochbücher in die artes-Reihe by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Call Me Ishmael - A Critical Analysis of the Narrator in Moby Dick by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book On the history of racial theory and the concept of white supremacy by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book A Troika of perceptions. The influence of Bush, Powell and Rumsfeld on the Creation of the USA Patriot Act of 2001 by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book An Introduction to Mass Surveillance and International Law by Heiko Kumsteller
Cover of the book Rewriting Chekhov: a comparison of Mansfield's 'The Child-Who-Was-Tired' and Chekhov's 'Sleepy' by Heiko Kumsteller
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy