Beloved Citizens
Toni Morrison's Beloved , Racial Inequality, and American Public Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4520115 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alex Zamalin (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 205-211 |
| Publication date | 2014-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Women's studies quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0732-1562 • E-ISSN: 1934-1520 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/wsq.2014.0004 |
| OpenAlex | W2050531508 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 4 |
Toni Morrison's classic novel Beloved (1987) provides lens through which to examine how social assistance shapes African American freedom. One dominant interpretation of novel has been that it implicitly argues for importance of recognizing historical legacies of slavery upon African American lives. For example, James Berger claims that novel counters 1980s ne ©conservative arguments of black cultural pathology by showing that law and science, power and official knowledge continue to violate African American lives ( 1996,411). And George Shulman argues that novel shows that addressing historical legacies of racial exclusion must be an ongoing rather than temporary process, giving readers the feeling of urgency and political necessity of redemption people must seek but cannot guarantee, must not preclude but cannot possess (2008, 202). These scholars point to novel's central narrative, which depicts postbellum community of ex-slaves in Cincinnati grappling with traumatic legacy of slavery as it is embodied in an infant ghost named Beloved, who was murdered by her mother, Sethe, in an effort to save child from enslavement.What remains unexplored is how another narrative thread, in which characters struggle to create flourishing community during Reconstruction with few economic resources or opportunities, examines effect of divergent models of social assistance on African American lives. As work of literature rather than of political theory, Beloved does not provide direct arguments about politics. Furthermore, it does not directly advocate for certain public policies. But I suggest that it nonetheless examines how social assistance that is contingent upon work and adherence to normative moral standards reinforces African American marginalization, whereas unconditional social assistance has greater potential to mitigate it. The novel thus offers important insights into politics of debt: conditional social assistance is further extension of legacy of slavery because it makes African Americans indebted to American society for whatever aid they receive-aid often needed because of social conditions created by slavery. In contrast, novel shows how unconditional social assistance, which imposes no debt upon recipients, can more effectively address legacy of racial oppression. Over quarter century after Beloved's publication, these observations are valuable for conceptualizing relationship between contemporary public assistance programs and racial inequality in United States.It is through character of Edward Bodwin, white former abolitionist, that Morrison most obviously dramatizes how conditional social assistance exacerbates African American marginalization. There is good reason to accept Berger's claim that Bodwin represents tradition of postwar white liberalism that condescends toward African Americans, while providing them with jobs and housing (1996, 417). But closer reading reveals that Morrison actually links Bodwin's assistance to his paternalistic attitude. What she shows is that his assistance actually tethers aid to work, available to recipients only on condition that individuals adhere to moral standards of conduct that he defines. For these characters to receive assistance to help meet their most basic needs, Bodwin keeps them entirely dependent upon his authority and low-wage labor.Morrison illustrates that Bodwin's type of aid effectively reproduces African American economic marginalization. Whereas Suggs performs certain domestic tasks for Bodwin in exchange for financial support, tasks such as cobbling, canning, and laundry and seamstress work, she dies with few assets and, on her deathbed, describes herself as nothing but a nigger woman hauling shoes (Morrison 1987, 179)
Criminology · Inequality · Political economy · Political science · Public policy · Racism · Sociology · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Mathematics · Race, History, and American Society · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
| Citations per year | 0.17 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |