Date of Award
Winter 12-8-2024
Document Type
Honors Project
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English and Linguistics
Department Chair or Program Director
Levin, Jonathan
First Advisor
Scanlon, Mara
Major or Concentration
English
Abstract
This paper analyzes the Black American experience presented by Claudia Rankine in Citizen: An American Lyric through the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of dialogism and authoritative and internalized discourses. Literature’s appeal lies largely in its ageless relatability, a trait Mikhail Bakhtin explains hinges on the novel’s ability to provoke and contribute to discussions across time. Active listeners internalize the utterances around them, and Rankine translates this theory into personal experiences by showing the effects of structural racism on discourse. I argue that, like Bakhtin, Rankine highlights how the perception of race discourses by racialized people contributes to the formation of their identity. This constant internalization of outside rhetoric and repositioning of internal discourse creates a self that is ever-changing. Rankine’s poetry captures the mental negotiations made by those othered by hegemony and how these dialogic experiences can reaffirm one’s ability to grow.
Recommended Citation
Ross, Asunta, "The Nuances of Self Construction: Dialogism and Discourse in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric" (2024). Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects. 693.
https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/693