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122
this life
as i am
why live it
at all
The denial causes a visceral, involuntary reaction (“shuddered”) of
revulsion and shaking off of the “crown” that has falsely been placed upon
her.30 The list of things being denied purposely stands out – despite being
placed in parentheses. Each item (sex, sexuality, etc.) stands on its own
line except the first and last, which are bracketed by the words “my” and
“self.” The identifiers are thus singular and part of the cohesive whole
that is “herself.” The hyphens between them further link each item to the
next, in effect forcing the reader to see each not separately but as one long
word and one multifaceted identity. The use of the lowercase “i” further
opens the poem. It may or may not be Cunningham speaking. And if it is,
she may not be speaking just for herself but for all women who have
similarly been “crowned” with false compliments that rely on self-negation
and denial. Tellingly, she does not end with the expected
question mark but with no punctuation at all (although punctuation does
appear elsewhere in the poem). The final thought then is neither a
question nor a strong declarative statement. It lingers somewhere in
between (perhaps in a border space?) and it is left to the reader to
interpret and assign meaning.
Object Description
| Title | "As shelters against the cold": women writers of the Black Arts and Chicano movements, 1965-1978 |
| Author | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Author email | uryder@usc.edu; uryder@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | American Studies & Ethnicity |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-27 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 27 October 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-10-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | McKenna, Teresa |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Sanchez, George J. Johnson, Dana |
| Abstract | This dissertation examines the work of women writers in the Black Arts and Chicano movements during the years 1965-1978. I argue that understanding the intersectional nature of the women's experiences is crucial for understanding their literary output. Further, I argue that Chicanas and African American women of this era challenged homogenous notions of community and racial identity and that we can trace the development of the Third World feminism and multiculturalism that came to the fore in the 1980s to this earlier period. Thus, this study also impacts the way we conceptualize identity formation and the creation of the literary canon. Investigating the ways in which these women integrated nationalist and feminist rhetoric and activism in their work is crucial for a full understanding of this critical period in U.S. history. At stake is an understanding of how Chicana and African American women in the United States have formed identities and communities; struggled for liberation and equality; and become part of the U.S. literary canon. |
| Keyword | Black Power; Black Arts movement; Chicano movement; civil rights; racial identity formation; womanism; borderlands theory; feminism; Third World feminism; nationalism; intersectionality |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1965/1978 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1698 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Ryder-2415 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume40/etd-Ryder-2415.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 127 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 122 this life as i am why live it at all The denial causes a visceral, involuntary reaction (“shuddered”) of revulsion and shaking off of the “crown” that has falsely been placed upon her.30 The list of things being denied purposely stands out – despite being placed in parentheses. Each item (sex, sexuality, etc.) stands on its own line except the first and last, which are bracketed by the words “my” and “self.” The identifiers are thus singular and part of the cohesive whole that is “herself.” The hyphens between them further link each item to the next, in effect forcing the reader to see each not separately but as one long word and one multifaceted identity. The use of the lowercase “i” further opens the poem. It may or may not be Cunningham speaking. And if it is, she may not be speaking just for herself but for all women who have similarly been “crowned” with false compliments that rely on self-negation and denial. Tellingly, she does not end with the expected question mark but with no punctuation at all (although punctuation does appear elsewhere in the poem). The final thought then is neither a question nor a strong declarative statement. It lingers somewhere in between (perhaps in a border space?) and it is left to the reader to interpret and assign meaning. |
