Book-It 'o9! Book #44
Oct. 18th, 2009 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdoleneMore of the Fifty Books Challenge! My father gave this to me as he shares my interest in social justice and he knows I have an interest in etymology and cultural anthropology.
Title: Nigger - The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy
Details: Copyright 2002, Pantheon Books
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Nigger: it is arguably the most consequential social insult in American history, though, at the same time, a word that reminds us of "the ironies and dilemmas, tragedies and glories of the American experience." In this tour de force, distinguished Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy—author of the highly acclaimed Race, Crime, and the Law— "put[s] a tracer on nigger," to identify how it has been used and by whom, while analyzing the controversies to which it has given rise.
With unprecedented candor and insight Kennedy explores such questions as: How should nigger be defined? Is it, as some have declared, necessarily more hurtful than other racial epithets? Do blacks have a right to use nigger even as others do not? Should the law view nigger baiting as a provocation strong enough to reduce the culpability of a person who responds violently to it? Should a person be fired from his or her job for saying nigger? How might the destructiveness of nigger be assuaged?
To be ignorant of the meanings and effects of nigger, says Kennedy, is to render oneself vulnerable to all manner of peril. This book brilliantly and sensitively addresses that concern. "
Why I Wanted to Read It: I have an (aforementioned) interest in etymology as well as the "reclaiming" of words.
How I Liked It: Kennedy's study is concise, scholarly, and unfortunately at times a bit dry. But still, this book paved the way for others like it to explore the word and its power in depth. It's hard to believe, but this book, when published in 2002, was issued into a different cultural landscape. In the seven years since, we've seen racism and the visibility of racism shapeshift in America (most obviously with the election of the first Black president). Most useful is his documentation of the word and the law, although his pop culture notes, though stilted by the time (as pop culture notes are), have a multi-faceted insight (he questioned whether all uses of the word should be banned, calls out Blacks such as Langston Hughes who have claimed to shun all uses of the word but praise works such as Nigger Heaven, and positive White uses of the word).
Point blank: a dated but essential consideration of a still-incendiary word in our culture.
Notable: Kennedy has some interesting revelations about the show (and franchise surrounding) Amos 'n' Andy. It turns out Eleanor Roosevelt, a longtime champion of civil rights, was a fan. Kennedy draws a parallel between the divide over Amos 'n' Andy (it increases visibility, but is it really the type of visibility we want?) over HBO's Def Comedy Jam in the 1990s (which was protested by Bill Cosby, among others). Kennedy's musings regarding visibility in any form of pop culture are another high point in the book, and a necessary consideration for any minority group, not just Blacks, including (but not limited to) women, the GLBT community, Hispanics, Asians, et cetera.
Title: Nigger - The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy
Details: Copyright 2002, Pantheon Books
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Nigger: it is arguably the most consequential social insult in American history, though, at the same time, a word that reminds us of "the ironies and dilemmas, tragedies and glories of the American experience." In this tour de force, distinguished Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy—author of the highly acclaimed Race, Crime, and the Law— "put[s] a tracer on nigger," to identify how it has been used and by whom, while analyzing the controversies to which it has given rise.
With unprecedented candor and insight Kennedy explores such questions as: How should nigger be defined? Is it, as some have declared, necessarily more hurtful than other racial epithets? Do blacks have a right to use nigger even as others do not? Should the law view nigger baiting as a provocation strong enough to reduce the culpability of a person who responds violently to it? Should a person be fired from his or her job for saying nigger? How might the destructiveness of nigger be assuaged?
To be ignorant of the meanings and effects of nigger, says Kennedy, is to render oneself vulnerable to all manner of peril. This book brilliantly and sensitively addresses that concern. "
Why I Wanted to Read It: I have an (aforementioned) interest in etymology as well as the "reclaiming" of words.
How I Liked It: Kennedy's study is concise, scholarly, and unfortunately at times a bit dry. But still, this book paved the way for others like it to explore the word and its power in depth. It's hard to believe, but this book, when published in 2002, was issued into a different cultural landscape. In the seven years since, we've seen racism and the visibility of racism shapeshift in America (most obviously with the election of the first Black president). Most useful is his documentation of the word and the law, although his pop culture notes, though stilted by the time (as pop culture notes are), have a multi-faceted insight (he questioned whether all uses of the word should be banned, calls out Blacks such as Langston Hughes who have claimed to shun all uses of the word but praise works such as Nigger Heaven, and positive White uses of the word).
Point blank: a dated but essential consideration of a still-incendiary word in our culture.
Notable: Kennedy has some interesting revelations about the show (and franchise surrounding) Amos 'n' Andy. It turns out Eleanor Roosevelt, a longtime champion of civil rights, was a fan. Kennedy draws a parallel between the divide over Amos 'n' Andy (it increases visibility, but is it really the type of visibility we want?) over HBO's Def Comedy Jam in the 1990s (which was protested by Bill Cosby, among others). Kennedy's musings regarding visibility in any form of pop culture are another high point in the book, and a necessary consideration for any minority group, not just Blacks, including (but not limited to) women, the GLBT community, Hispanics, Asians, et cetera.
