assignment

The use of Spoken Word as a form of self-expression and representation is a follow up response to the lack of or misrepresentation discussed last week.  A big proponent of self-representation in every manner was W.E.B. DuBois.  William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). DuBois offers a theoretical framework we can use to understand the ways Asian Americans are viewed by others and by themselves, especially within the influences of mass media.  In the book Asian America Through the Lens, History, Representations and Identity, the author Xing leans on one of DuBois' theories when examining the experiences of Asians in American film. 

DuBois encouraged African Americans to develop something called the "Authentic Black Theater", in response to the images of Black America by non-African Americans.  His life spanned post slavery and pre-civil rights movement and was influenced by what he was witnessing within his community.  He charged the community to think about what was being delivered, who was creating the content and who the content was being created for.  It was also impossible for African Americans to have access to theaters (local community theaters, seating segregation, etc.), so DuBois also wanted it to be accessible, local to the community members.  This authentic Black theater would be described in four points: "for us, by us, near us, and about us".  Four points that we can use as a lens when examining the Asian American experience in popular culture.  (Think about any of the successful films in recent times and if it fits the four points).  

Double Consciousness / Dual Identity

What DuBois was saying was not new for anyone at the time, nor is it a new concept today.  What WAS new and what made him well known was his double consciousness theory.  Below is an excerpt from his book "The Souls of Black Folk" as well as a spoken word performance to better illustrate what it might mean to live in these two "spaces."  This idea of a dual identity is shared by many communities of color, and parallels can be made within identity formation, especially as children of immigrants.  With these two theories, we can better understand the use and draw for Asian Americans to the spoken word movement.  

Chapter One of The Souls Of Black Folk: “Of Spiritual Striving” It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,–an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,–this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.

Below Nicole Masangkay and Erika Bleyl from the University of Washington, Seattle perform a spoken word piece and describe in their own words the double consciousness faced as Asian Americans.  

Things to think about when viewing this and other spoken word artists:

Performance style: tone, vernacular, body language, emotions

The pacing: emphasis on different words to evoke emotion and response

The words: how important are the words that they are conveying to capture and keep the audience's attention