This BA dissertation is dedicated to the genre of autobiographies, also known as life writing. It focuses on Michelle Obama's 2018 memoir "Becoming" and discusses both the traditions of African-American female autobiographies and the political memoir genre. "Becoming" permits Obama to tell her own story to set the record straight. It gives her the opportunity to rewrite her story and define her own identity for herself. Writing as a former political figure–the First Lady of the United States of America, Obama does not refrain from incorporating her personal life as well as a personal message.
As a former First Lady, "Becoming" can be understood as being part of the genre of the First Lady memoir. As such, Obama’s autobiography can be defined as an intersection between African American women’s autobiographies and the genre of First Lady memoir which have both been largely excluded from the literary canon. Thus, Obama constitutes a minority within a minority as she is not only a First Lady, but she is the nation’s only African American First Lady.
Moreover, Obama constitutes a political observer and having written one of the most valuable autobiographies of the twenty-first century, she illustrates how despite the fact that African Americans have largely been excluded from American politics, her autobiography demonstrates the progress America has made by electing its first African American president. In this thesis, it is my contention that Obama’s autobiography "Becoming" constructs an amalgamation between African American women’s life writing and the autobiographical sub-genre of the First Lady memoir.
African American women autobiographers construct a self that has, as Terrell puts it, two central handicaps – gender and race. This statement from the 20th century captures the intersectionality of African American women’s identities. In her autobiography "Becoming", Michelle Obama shows her awareness of her intersectional identity as she writes ‘I’ve been the
only woman, the only African American, in all sorts of rooms’. Thus, the tradition of African American women’s autobiographies requires a suitable theoretical framework when examining their texts.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Tracing Autobiographical Genres and Intersectional Identities
Chapter One: ‘Am I Good Enough?’: Selling the American Dream in Michelle Obama’s Autobiography
Chapter Two: Reinventing The Role of First Lady: A Quest for Self-Definition Through Intersectionality
Conclusion
Objectives & Themes
This dissertation analyzes Michelle Obama’s autobiography Becoming (2018) through the lens of black feminist theories, examining how she constructs her identity by merging the traditions of African American women's autobiographies with the political memoir sub-genre.
- Construction of intersectional identities regarding race, gender, and class.
- The role of self-determination and self-definition in navigating public and private spheres.
- Fusing the personal narrative with the public life of a political figure.
- Resistance techniques, such as "backtalk," used to counter negative stereotypes.
- The evolution of the "First Lady memoir" as a site of identity formation and social activism.
Excerpt from the Book
The Academic Journey: Intersecting Identities and Oppressions
Obama charts her progressive academic journey in chronological order, beginning with her experience at Bryn Mawr Elementary School. During years as a student, Obama exposes how her race, gender and class intersect and form interlocking challenges. In this light, Obama presents herself as a working-class black female student who is highly determined to excel in school. Beginning with her kindergarten experience, Obama notes she was given a head start because she was an advanced reader by the time she started at Bryn Mawr Elementary School in 1969. She recalls an incident in which the students were asked to read a list of colours out loud, writing ‘I was confident in my ability to read […] and thus was thrilled to hear that our first job as kindergarteners would be learning to read new sets of words by sight’. (Obama, p. 17) Clearly being a step ahead of her peers, Obama aggrandizes herself for having exceptionally advanced reading skills and radiates confidence as she excels in elementary school. However, when asked to read the word ‘white’ during a task, Obama is unable to do so even though she is familiar with the word. Obama exposes her failure and subsequent embarrassment that followed as she writes ‘I just wanted to achieve’. (Obama, p. 18)
Chapter Summary
Introduction: Tracing Autobiographical Genres and Intersectional Identities: This chapter establishes the theoretical framework, focusing on intersectionality and black feminist perspectives to analyze the autobiographical tradition of African American women.
Chapter One: ‘Am I Good Enough?’: Selling the American Dream in Michelle Obama’s Autobiography: This section investigates Obama’s educational journey and her use of self-determination to achieve success and define her identity against intersecting barriers.
Chapter Two: Reinventing The Role of First Lady: A Quest for Self-Definition Through Intersectionality: The analysis shifts to Obama’s public life, exploring how she reconstructs the First Lady role by integrating her private narrative with her political reality.
Conclusion: This final section summarizes how Obama fuses personal and political narratives to successfully redefine her identity as an African American woman in a public sphere.
Keywords
Michelle Obama, Becoming, Autobiography, Intersectionality, Black Feminist Theory, First Lady Memoir, Self-Definition, American Dream, Identity Construction, Resistance, Race, Gender, Political Memoir, Marginality, Empowerment
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this dissertation?
The dissertation explores how Michelle Obama uses her autobiography Becoming to define her own identity by navigating the intersections of race, gender, and class within both personal and public contexts.
What are the primary themes discussed in the work?
Key themes include self-determination, the subversion of stereotypical images (such as the "angry black woman"), the struggle to balance a private self with public expectations, and the fusion of autobiography with political memoir.
What is the primary research question?
The study examines how Michelle Obama constructs her identity in Becoming through the amalgamation of the African American women's autobiographical tradition and the sub-genre of the First Lady memoir.
Which theoretical methods does the author utilize?
The author employs a close reading of the primary text, Becoming, framed by black feminist theories (e.g., Patricia Collins, bell hooks, Kimberlé Crenshaw) and literary theories concerning autobiography and political memoirs.
What is covered in the main body of the text?
The body analyzes Obama's academic journey as a search for self-advancement in Chapter One and her transition into the public role of First Lady, where she focuses on self-definition and reclaiming her narrative, in Chapter Two.
Which keywords best describe this research?
The research is characterized by terms such as intersectionality, self-definition, African American identity, political memoir, and narrative resistance.
How does Obama handle her "Harvard" experience?
The author notes that Obama explicitly omits her Harvard Law School experience, arguing this omission is intentional because it does not fit the specific "self-made" narrative of hard work and struggle she constructs for the American Dream.
What is the significance of the "First Lady genre" in this study?
The study identifies that Becoming breaks new ground by being the first memoir of its kind by an African American First Lady, thereby creating a "Black First Lady genre" that addresses institutional exclusion.
How does the concept of "backtalk" manifest in the autobiography?
Obama uses "backtalk" or "flagrant resistance"—a concept by Johnnie Stover—to challenge negative perceptions of herself and to assert her own agency through rhetorical questioning and decisive action.
- Quote paper
- Dianne Petrov (Author), 2020, Race, Gender and Politics in Michelle Obama’s Autobiography "Becoming". An African American Women's Autobiography and First Lady Memoir, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/932089
