Deconstruction of the racist-sexist stereotypes in Alice Walker's novels

Abstract

Abstract This study holds that the analysis of any stereotype construct undoes the functionality of that stereotype. From this perspective, it dissects certain stereotypes constituted at the junction of race and gender which have been incorporated in the novels of Alice Walker. It lays bare the Western politics of representation which deploys the strategy of typifying ‘others’ or Black women, in this context, to marginalize. Walker's works offer Black feminist narratives where once paranoid women raise critical consciousness and challenge conventional assumptions about them. The subversive activities of her fictional women end up reframing those purposive constructs. This paper first explores the mechanism of stereotyping the Black women from its study of three selected novels of Walker and then analyzes why those stereotypes deserve re-interpretation and re-evaluation. It finds that instead of engaging herself in the binary practice of countering the canon, Walker offers through her novels appropriation, re-definition or re-assessment of the racist and sexist tags commonly associated with Black women. In this regard, Walker, her fictional women, and this researcher meet to introduce new dimensions to those stereotypes and advocate for considering cultural diversity and cultural context which shape Black women. To study the stereotypes, this paper takes on a deconstructionist approach, proposed by Collins. For analysis, it also relies on hooks' concepts of Western double-edged standards and Hall's ideas of stereotyping the ‘other’ and politics of representation. It uses content analysis method, limiting itself to look into relevant parts of the studied novels.