CENTRE AND THE MARGIN: INVESTIGATING THE POLITICS OF POWER IN LITTLE MAGAZINES OF THE 20TH CENTURY AMERICA

Abstract

During the 1920s, popularly known as the period of Harlem Renaissance, there was a rift in the society which impacted the entire social fabric poignantly the sufferings of the AfroAmericans in terms of racism, lynching, segregation problematizing the power structures and the societal ideology. Power, from an ideological point of view, can be described as an instrument of controlling the society, influencing people’s lives in myriad ways and achieving the intended targets as set by the centre. Power and politics can be viewed conjointly when we critically explore the Little Magazines brought out by the ones in the centre of the power structure and the other- in the periphery. Little Magazines, avant-garde and non-commercial in nature, served as cultural intermediaries, a medium of expression and a literary space mediating between the political, social and literary dimensions. The publication of the Little Magazines periodically by the people in power in the 20th century America, that is, the Whites reflected their domination in the printing industry; Little Magazines published by the Afro-Americans were mostly short-lived for paucity of support, funding and response. These little magazines brought to the surface issues like marginalization, subjugation, alienation, exploitation issues while, those published by the power centre celebrated the literary and artistic writings of the individuals and focused on creating “an alternative form of cultural capital in relation to mainstream magazines”, also aiming at expanding nationally and internationally. The paper attempts to closely look at the theorists Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Judith Butler associated with the concept of class and race. This paper addresses the impact of the dynamics of power and its operation on the Afro-Americans in relation to identity and its representation.