Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T07:27:56.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Let It Pass: Changing the Subject, Once Again

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Pamela L. Caughie
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The recent controversial transformation of the humanities is due partly to the institutional acknowledgment of diversity and partly to critics' efforts to theorize difference and to destabilize the categories of identity on which programs devoted to the study of diversity are founded. This double agenda creates anxiety over the positions we find ourselves in as scholars and teachers in the newly configured university. My essay offers a means of working through this tension: a performative pedagogy based on a descriptive theory of the dynamics of passing. I exemplify this dynamic by reading debates on white feminists' appropriation of black women's writing, comparing student responses to the 1934 film Imitation of Life, and discussing Fannie Hurst's novel on which the film is based. I posit the pedagogical relation as the privileged site where passing, which is inevitable in any subject position, can be enacted and made explicit.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 112 , Issue 1: Special Topic: The Teaching of Literature , January 1997 , pp. 26 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Abel, Elizabeth “Black Writing, White Reading: Race and the Politics of Feminist Interpretation.” Critical Inquiry 19 (1993): 470–47.10.1086/448683CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcoff, Linda “Cultural Feminism versus Post-structuralism: The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory.” Signs 13 (1988): 405–40.10.1086/494426CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcoff, Linda “The Problem of Speaking for Others.” Cultural Critique 20 (1991-92): 5–32.10.2307/1354221CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aronowitz, Stanley, and Giroux, Henry A. Postmodern Education: Politics, Culture, and Social Criticism. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1991.Google Scholar
Bathrick, David “Cultural Studies.” Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures. Ed. Gibaldi, Joseph. New York: MLA, 1992. 320–32.Google Scholar
Berlant, Lauren “National Brands / National Bodies: Imitation of Life.” Comparative American Identities: Race, Sex, and Nationality in the Modern Text. Ed. Spillers, Hortense J. New York: Routledge, 1991. 110–11.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Susan David “Confessing Feminist Theory: What's ‘I’ Got to Do with It?” Hypatia 7.2 (1992): 120–12.Google Scholar
Brodkey, Linda “On the Subjects of Class and Gender in ‘The Literacy Letters.‘” College English 51 (1989): 125–12.10.2307/377422CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodkey, Linda “Postmodern Pedagogy for Progressive Educators.” Journal of Education 169.3 (1987): 138–13.Google Scholar
Brown, Sterling A “Imitation of Life: Once a Pancake.” Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life Mar. 1935: 87–88.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York: Routledge, 1993.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith “For a Careful Reading.” Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange. Ed. Benhabib, Seyla et al. New York: Routledge, 1995. 127–12.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith “Imitation and Gender Insubordination.” Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories and Gay Theories. Ed. Fuss, Diana. New York: Routledge, 1991. 13–31.Google Scholar
Carby, Hazel V Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist. New York: Oxford, 1987.Google Scholar
Caughie, Pamela L Passing and Pedagogy: The Dynamics of Responsibility. Urbana: U of Illinois P, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Cornell, Drucilla Beyond Accommodation: Ethical Feminism, Deconstruction. and the Law. New York: Routledge, 1991.Google Scholar
Cornell, Drucilla The Philosophy of the Limit, New York: Routledge, 1992.Google Scholar
Crowley, Sharon A Teacher's Guide to Deconstruction. Urbana: NCTE, 1989.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques Limited Inc. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1988.Google Scholar
Europa, Europa. Dir. Agnieszka Holland. CCC Filmkunst; Les Films de Losange, 1991.Google Scholar
Faigley, Lester Fragments of Rationality: Postmodernity and the Subject of Composition. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1992.Google Scholar
Friedman, Susan Standford “Post/Poststructuralist Feminist Criticism: The Politics of Recuperation and Negotiation.” New Literary History 22 (1991): 465–46.10.2307/469049CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuss, Diana Essentially Speaking: Feminism, Nature, and Difference. New York: Routledge, 1989.Google Scholar
George, Diana, and Shoos, Diana “Issues of Subjectivity and Resistance: Cultural Studies in the Composition Classroom.” Cultural Studies in the English Classroom. Ed. Berlin, James A. and Vivion, Michael J. Portsmouth: Boynton, 1992. 200–20.Google Scholar
Giroux, Henry A “Resisting Difference: Cultural Studies and the Discourse of Critical Pedagogy.” Grossberg, Nelson, and Treichler 199–212.Google Scholar
Greene, Gayle, and Kahn, Coppélia, eds Changing Subjects: The Making of Feminist Literary Criticism. New York: Routledge, 1993.Google Scholar
Grossberg, Lawrence, Nelson, Cary, and Treichler, Paula A., eds Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge, 1992.Google Scholar
Harding, Sandra “Who Knows? Identities and Feminist Epistemology.” (En)Gendering Knowledge. Ed. Hartman, Joan E. and Messer-Davidow, Ellen. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1991. 100–10.Google Scholar
Harper, Phillip Brian Framing the Margins: The Social Logic of Postmodern Culture. New York: Oxford, 1994.Google Scholar
Harper, Phillip Brian “The Subversive Edge': Paris Is Burning, Social Critique, and the Limits of Subjective Agency.” Diacritics 24.2–3 (1994): 90–103.10.2307/465166CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henriques, Julian, et al Changing the Subject: Psychology, Social Regulation, and Subjectivity. New York: Methuen, 1984.Google Scholar
Homans, Margaret “‘Women of Color’ Writers and Feminist Theory.” New Literary History 25 (1994): 73–94.10.2307/469441CrossRefGoogle Scholar
hooks, bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge, 1994.Google Scholar
hooks, bell Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End, 1989.Google Scholar
hooks, bell Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994.Google Scholar
hooks, bell Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston: South End, 1990.Google Scholar
Hurst, Fannie. Imitation of Life. New York: Collier, 1993.Google Scholar
Hurst, Fannie Letter. Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life 13 Apr. 1935: 121.Google Scholar
Hurst, Fannie “The Sure Way to Equality.” Negro Digest June 1946:27–28. Imitation of Life. Dir. John Stahl. Universal, 1934.Google Scholar
Jarratt, Susan C Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1991.Google Scholar
Keating, AnnLouise “Interrogating ‘Whiteness,‘ (De)Constructing Race.” College English 57 (1995): 901–90.Google Scholar
Larsen, Nella Passing. New York: Knopf, 1929.Google Scholar
Lydon, Mary Skirting the Issue: Essays in Literary Theory. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1995.Google Scholar
McClary, Susan Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1991.Google Scholar
Miller, Nancy K “Criticizing Feminist Criticism.” Conflicts in Feminism. Ed. Hirsch, Marianne and Keller, Evelyn Fox. New York: Routledge, 1990. 349–34.Google Scholar
Miller, Nancy K Subject to Change: Reading Feminist Writing. New York: Columbia UP, 1988.Google Scholar
Morrison, Toni Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1992.,Google Scholar
Nelson, Cary, Paula, A Treichler, and Lawrence Grossberg. “Cultural Studies: An Introduction.” Grossberg, Nelson, and Treichler 1–16.Google Scholar
Poovey, Mary “The Abortion Question and the Death of Man.” Feminists Theorize the Political. Ed. Butler, Judith and Scott, Joan W. New York: Routledge, 1992. 239–23.Google Scholar
Poovey, Mary “Cultural Criticism: Past and Present.” College English 52 (1990): 615–61.10.2307/378028CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poovey, Mary “Feminism and Postmodernism: Another View.” Boundary 2 19.2 (1992): 34–52.10.2307/303532CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, Amy “It Takes One to Know One: Passing and Communities of Common Interest.” Critical Inquiry 20 (1994): 715–71.10.1086/448734CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Paul Discerning the Subject. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1988.Google Scholar
Smith, Valerie “Reading the Intersection of Race and Gender in Narratives of Passing.” Diacritics 24.2–3 (1994): 43–57.Google Scholar
Smithson, Isaiah Introduction. English Studies / Culture Studies. Ed. Smithson and Ruff, Nancy. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1994. 1–22.Google Scholar
Suleiman, Susan Rubin Risking Who One Is: Encounters with Contemporary Art and Literature. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1994.Google Scholar
Wicke, Jennifer “Postmodern Identities and the Politics of the (Legal) Subject.” Boundary 2 19.2 (1992): 10–33.10.2307/303531CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiegman, Robyn “Black Bodies / American Commodities: Gender, Race, and the Bourgeois Ideal in Contemporary Film.” Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American Cinema. Ed. Friedman, Lester D. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1991. 308–30.Google Scholar
Willis, Susan “Eruptions of Funk: Historicizing Toni Morrison.” Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Ed. Gates, Henry Louis Jr., and Appiah, K. A. New York: Amistad, 1993. 308–30.Google Scholar
Zavarzadeh, Mas'ud, and Morton, Donald “Theory Pedagogy Politics: The Crisis of ‘the Subject’ in the Humanities.” Theory/Pedagogy/Politics: Texts for Change. Ed. Morton and Zavarzadeh. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1991. 1–32.Google Scholar