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Political aspects in 'The New Negro'

American Studies - Miscellaneous


Author

Christoph Ellssel
2 Texts

Excerpt

Category
Scholary Paper (Seminar)
Institution / College
Grade
1,00

Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
Lehrstuhl für Englische Literaturwissenschaft
Wintersemester 2006/2007
Proseminar II ,,Tales of the Jazz Age"
Hanns Christoph Ellßel
Political aspects in The New Negro
Inhaltsverzeichnis
1.
Introduction... 3
2.
Political aspects of The New Negro... 3
2.1.
Defining the term "political aspect of literature" ... 3
2.2.
The aim of political aspects ... 5
2.3.
Reasons for a political aspect of literature... 6
2.4.
Political aspects in The New Negro... 7
2.4.1.
The Negro's Americanism by Melville J. Herskovits... 7
2.4.1.1.
The biography of Herskovits ... 7
2.4.1.2.
Political aspects in The Negro's Americanism ... 7
2.4.2.
The Negro Mind reaches out by W.E.B. Du Bois ... 9
2.4.2.1.
The biography of Du Bois... 9
2.4.2.2.
Political aspects in The Negro Mind reaches out ... 9
3.
The political aspect of The New Negro and its effects... 12
4.
Bibliography... 14
5.
Copyright Note ... 15
6.
Disclaimer... 16
2
1. Introduction
The "Roaring Twenties" ­ a chapter of history which burst out with the extremes:
On the one hand fascinating improvements in daily life, stunning inventions, new
ideas about social systems ­ and on the other hand still a very strong racism, the
widespread feeling of being lost and the beginning of the isolationism as a
political solution to the problems of the world. New York was one of the
strongholds of the movement, with especially the Harlem Renaissance, the
movement of black art and culture taking place. But the movement was not only
an eruption of artistic thoughts and works, but had also a political imagination.
Due to the vast amount of literature, paintings and other works, I am going to
focus only on "The New Negro", edited by Alain Locke. This book "had the effects
of a manifesto"
1
and so is an acceptable basis for the search for the political face
of the Harlem Renaissance or the New Negro Movement ­ two items which can
easily be exchanged
2
. Although it would be very interesting to go through The
New Negro piece by piece and try to find political aspects of the single parts, due
to the limited space of this Hausarbeit that must be left to future attempts. This
limitation is further explained later on
3
.
A very interesting study has been done by Robert E. Washington in The
Ideologies of African American Literature
4
, which is dealing with the political
aspect of African American literature and not only the Harlem Renaissance.
The central question of this Hausarbeit searches for political aspects of the
Harlem Renaissance at the example of The New Negro.
2. Political aspects of The New Negro
2.1. Defining the term "political aspect of literature"
Although Robert Hayden in his preface to the Atheneum edition of The New
Negro negates the existence of a political aspect
5
in the book, in my opinion
1
Robert Hayden, Preface to the Atheneum Edition in Alain Locke (ed.), The New Negro (New York:
Atheneum, 1977), IX.
2
Robert Hayden, Preface to the Atheneum Edition in Alain Locke (ed.), The New Negro (New York:
Atheneum, 1977), IX.
3
see 2.4 for detailed description.
4
Robert E. Washington. The Ideologies of African American Literature. Lanham/Maryland,
Rowman&Littlefield, 2001.
3
such a face exists: It is a question of a narrow or a wide definition of the
political aspect of literature
6
.
As the term politics in common English is used in a very broad sense, it is
very difficult to find a clear definition. For example, the Encyclopædia
Britannica says:
Politics: The set of formal legal institutions that constitute a
"government" or a "state." This is the definition adopted by many studies
of the legal or constitutional arrangements of advanced political orders.
More broadly defined [...] the political system is seen as a set of
"processes of interaction" or as a subsystem of the social system
interacting with other nonpolitical subsystems, such as the economic
system. This points to the importance of informal sociopolitical
processes and emphasizes the study of political development.
7
In comparison to the Britannica article I would like to mention the definition
published by the Wikipedia in order to mention a non-scientific work:
Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. Although the
term is generally applied to behavior within governments, politics is
observed in all human (and many non-human) group interactions,
including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. In general,
politics can be considered the art of navigating through tensions among
multiple "I"s and the "we" to achieve collectively desired ends.
8
As it may be concluded out of these two definitions, it is almost impossible to
make a clear distinction between politics and non-politics. In case of The New
Negro I have decided to use a quite broad definition of politics, as with art
politics usually is a hidden agenda and not major plan.
5
Robert Hayden, Preface to the Atheneum Edition in Alain Locke (ed.), The New Negro (New York:
Atheneum, 1977), IX.
6
Most parts of this argumentation are based on the book by Robert E. Washington. The Ideologies of
African American Literature. Lanham/Maryland, Rowman&Littlefield, 2001.
7
Political System. Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, London,
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2005.
8
Politics ­ Wikipedia, 2007, 12.02.2007, .
4
Excerpt: 5 of 16 pages -  scroll top


Description

Title:
Political aspects in 'The New Negro'
Event:
Tales of the Jazz Age
Author:
Christoph Ellssel
Year:
2007
Pages:
16
Archive No.:
V94193
ISBN (eBook):
978-3-640-10475-8
DOI:
10.3239/9783640104758
File size:
92 KB
Language:
English

Tags:
Political Negro Tales Jazz

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Christoph Ellssel, 2007, Political aspects in 'The New Negro', Munich, GRIN Publishing GmbH

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