Passings that Pass in America: Crossing over and Coming Back to Tell about It

Autor/in	Reid, Donald
Titel	Passings that Pass in America: Crossing over and Coming Back to Tell about It
Quelle	In: History Teacher, 40 (2007) 4, S.453-470 (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0018-2745
Schlagwörter	Literary Genres; Whites; Participant Observation; Social Change; Social Attitudes; Racial Attitudes; Self Concept; Racial Identification; Attitude Change; Social Environment; Social Class; Differences; Personal Narratives; African Americans; Racial Relations; Cultural Pluralism; Stereotypes; Consciousness Raising; American Indians; Social Bias; Gender Issues; Social Justice + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Literarische Form; White; Weißer; Teilnehmende Beobachtung; Sozialer Wandel; Social attidude; Soziale Einstellung; Rassenfrage; Selbstkonzept; Attitudinal change; Einstellungsänderung; Soziales Umfeld; Social classes; Soziale Klasse; Unterscheiden; Erlebniserzählung; Afroamerikaner; Kulturpluralismus; Klischee; Bewusstseinsbildung; American Indian; Indianer; Geschlechterfrage; Soziale Gerechtigkeit
Abstract	American culture glorifies the self-made man and this self-making extends to individual identity. The United States celebrates geographical and social mobility and the very anomie this produces is also the site of secular rebirths. In this essay, the author examines a literary genre that draws upon the American faith in self-transformation in an effort to confront the social boundaries that define its limits: narratives of white middle-class individuals who seek to live as an other for a while with the aim of revealing to their social group of origin its role in creating and sustaining the marginalization and oppression of the other whose identity they temporarily assume. John Howard Griffin's "Black Like Me" and Grace Halsell's "Soul Sister" and "Bessie Yellowhair" were products of an era when the challenges that racial integration presented to white middle-class society gave new impetus to the tradition of participant-observer social scientists and journalists living as workers and reporting on the experience. The author concludes with a reading of recent accounts of inter- and intra-class passing: Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed" and "Bait and Switch," and Norah Vincent's memoir of gender passing, "Self-Made Man." (Contains 7 notes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Society for History Education. California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840-1601. Tel: 562-985-2573; Fax: 562-985-5431; Web site: http://www.thehistoryteacher.org/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10