Sambos and Minstrels
Author(s): Sylvia Wynter
Source: Social Text, No. 1 (Winter, 1979), pp. 149-156
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466410 .
Accessed: 22/01/2015 23:34
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Duke University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Text.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Sambos and Minstrels
SYLVIA WYNTER
The incredibleinventivenessof black cultureis not to be understoodoutside the
ofcounterresistance
to theresistanceoftheRealworld,
imperativetaskoftransformation,
Thisculture,perceivedas a
themselves.
to thequest ofthemarkedexcludedblacksto affirm
of the
the
dominant
and
contained
threatby
order,was marginalized
by the fabrication
minstrelstereotype.The whitecaricatureoftheminstrel
tradition
expressedthebourgeoisin
a
all
as
once
of
culture.
cricket
populargame,was takenup
Just
England,
eye-view
popular
middle
as
a
middle
middleclassvalues,so the
the
class
and
coded
class
ritual,introjecting
by
minstreltraditioncomingout ofblackculturewas takenup bythewhite,bourgeoisworld
and tokeepup thesocialrelationofserious
to provideitselfwith"harmlessentertainment,"
white
to
Sambo.Whiteslaughedvicariously
irresponsible
responsible
agent happy-go-lucky
Sambo.
through
thebourgeoisworldfounda
Amidstthestagnationofall otherareasofculturalactivity,
ofan affective
andemotional
source ofculturallifeon whichto feed,ifthebarestminimum
life were to be sustainedin the wildernessof technologicalrationalization.
Thus, the
minstrelshows, like the rest of black culture-its spirituals,its blues, its jazz-were
incorporatedin a formthatkeptitsrelativeexclusionintact.Blackculture,blackmusicin
particular,became an originalsource ofrawmaterialto be exploitedas theentertainment
hiddenin
industryburgeoned.Once againblacksfunctionas theplantationsubproletariat
the raw material.
The movementof Negritude,a movementwhich began with the revaluationof the
popular cultureofHaiti,followedon themovementoftheHarlemRenaissancewhichalso
began witha returnto thesource even ifthisreturntookplace in thecontextofthereturn
to theprimitivebytheWest.The Westwas now to become consciousoftheculturaldeath
ithad inflictedon itselfbychannelingall libidinalenergyto a productivefinality.
Astheselfconfidenceoftheaxiomaticcultureweakened,thestigmatized
culturesbeganto counterdefinethemselves,in termsof the largerworld,movingout fromthe underlifeinto the
mainstreamto extend the work of culturaltransformation.
The parallelmovementof
did
the
same.
That
both
were
to
movements
become
postulatedNorms,
indigenismo
incorporatedby the dominantsystem,givena place oflicensedheresy,would lead to the
ambiguitiesof the Negritudeof the laterSenghorvariety.The attacksby Marxistblack
leaders and by Fanonhimselfon Negritudewould help to revealtheareas offraudulence
thathad developed withNegritude'sinstitutionalization.
Yet thisdoes notgainsaythefact
Shehaswrittennumerousarticles
WYNTERis head oftheAfro-American
SYLVIA
programatStanford
University.
on the Spanish Golden Age, Caribbean literature,Black literature and culture, and literarytheory.
149
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
150
Wynter
thatNegritudedrewattentionto thatimplicitculturalblanchitudewhichhad been central
to the social machineof the world system.Blanchitudehad been nothingelse thanthe
constitutedNORMof culture in relationto which all other cultureshad been made
subservient.It was thatnormativecultureofblanchitudethatinscribedtheglobe,coding
value and non-value,bindingthe structuresof productionunder the hegemonyof its
imaginarysocial significations.
Itwas thepain,theangstofthosepositedas Non-Norms,
thatcompelledexamination
of
the functioningof the SymbolicOrder itself.From the perspectiveof a painfulselfknowledge-the Negrowantsto be a master-Fanonbeganto provideanswersand to give
new dimensionsto the questionasked by WilhelmReichafterthe traumaofNazismas a
mass movement.How had the "revolutionary"
people become a Nazi?How do themasses
come to desiretheirown repression?The blackexperienceheld theanswers.
The social constructofSambo,liketheopposingsocial constructoftherebelliousNat,
was necessaryto the self-conception
notonlyofthemaster,butto thatofall whitesin the
Southwho patternedtheirown self-conception
on themaster-model.
The slaves'testimony
to
in
points theway whichtheirclaimto equalitywiththerichwhitescame to be based on
theirclaimto equallyexerciseformsofmastery
overtheBlack.We getan insighthereas to
thestrategiesbywhichthebourgeoisieprojectsitsownbourgeoismodelas Norm,so thatit
can be internalizedby theproletariat
who thenvindicatetheirclaimto equalitywithinthe
contextof the bourgeoisuniverseofsignification.
The internalization
ofthemaster-model
bypoorwhiteswho ownedno slaves-and who
had no materialrelationto theownershipofslaves-gives insights
intothepower thatthe
theattitudes
andresponses
bourgeoiscontrolofthemeansofsocializationhad infashioning
of the nonowningclasses.It is hereperhapsthatwe glimpsethemechanismsoftheconstitutionof white racism,a pathologyso deeplyrooted and pervasivethatRichardWright
definedthe problemof theU.S.A.not as a Negrobut as a Whiteproblem.
Yet almostno seriousindepthstudieshave been carriedout intothecomplexlevelsof
this pathology;into the historyof its social constitution.
This is linkedto the factthat
whitenessis takenas a given,ratherthanas a striking
phenomenoncallingforextensive
research.A relatedcause fortheoversightofthisarea ofstudyhasto do withtheacademic
refusalto questionthepresuppositions
oftheegalitarian
creedoftheUnitedStates.Yet any
oftheblackexplanationoftheneed thatwhiteshad to projectthetwobasic stereotypes
Sambo and Nat-will have to beginwith thecontradictions
ofthe egalitariancreed. The
white masterand the poor white each foundhimselfin Bateson'sclassic model of the
double bind.On theone hand,thesacredinjunctionoftheConstitution
declaimedthatall
men were createdequal. On theother,themoresand everydayconventions,
ethics,values
constitutedhimas a man,onlyas whiteand therefore
on
condition
that
he distanced
only
himselfas faras possiblefromthesymbolicnegationofmanhoodandwhiteness-theblack.
The projectionoftheSambostereotype
withitsJanusface,Nat,respondsto theneed of
the dual psyche of the white-as settlerand as the bearerof the egalitariancreed-to
resolve the contradiction.
The relativelymildertreatment
oftheblackin LatinAmericais
due farmore to the factthatwiththe minimaldevelopmentof capitalismthe traditional
hierarchies-ratherthanthe indirectcapitalistprincipleof hierarchy-madeit unnecesandtofindthemselvesinas
saryforwhiteLatinAmericansto projecttheSambostereotype;
conflictuala psychicsituation.As LatinAmericancountriesbecame more capitalistically
developed, however,racismtendedto increase.
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Sambos & Minstrels
151
In the UnitedStates,the slave mastersneeded most of all to finda solutionto this
which
contradiction.The solutionwas the constructionof the ideologyof paternalism,
Centralto thebourgeoisideologyis the
called imperatively
fortheSambo/Natstereotype.
Sambo as the
idea of the atomisticindividualas a responsibleagent.By constructing
the
his
own
role
as
master
of
the
slave
responsibleagent
legitimated
negation responsibility,
actingon behalfof the irresponsibleminstrel.By makingsurethatthesocial process and
the
poweroverhisenvironment,
legal structuresdeprivedtheslaveofanydecision-making
slave mastercreated as faras possible a dependencycomplex in the slave,needingthis
opposed complex to constitutehisown autonomousand responsiblerole.Byrepresenting
theslavemaster
theidentityofSamboas childlike,byinstituting
processesofinfantilization,
could thenseem to be
constitutedhimselfas PaternalFather.The ideologyofpaternalism
groundedon empiricalfact.
The stereotypeoftheSouthernslaveholderas thepaternalmasterwould underliethe
Yet the mythinteractedin everydaylife,
entiremythologyof the Southernaristocracy.
the
and
realtions
between
black
social
white,betweenwhites,and influencing
patterning
of
the
The heavypaternalism
structureofthewhiteand blackfamily.
Southernpaterfamilia,
the gallantryofthe Southernmale to thehelpless"infantile"
female,and theauthoritarian
ofpaternalism
responsesoffathersto sonswere all conditionedbythisnecessarystructure
in the largersocial orderof theplantation.
ethicofprecapitalist
As theChristianpaternalist
Europe,whichhadmodelledthenation
on the model of family,was graduallysuperseded,the model of the familybecame
privatized.Thatis to say,the social whole was atomized,buteach head ofa privatefamily,
or thehousehold,assimilatedto himselftheabsolute
theplantation,
whetherin thefactory,
with
the
associated
King.The houseindeedbecame a castle.The Lord
paternalismformerly
of the manor alternatedbetween a heavy hand and paternalindulgence.Thus Sambo
became the model of the black who behaved in the prescribedmanner,who "freely"
to themasterthathewas indeeda feudallordof
infeodatedhimself,
therebycommunicating
it
Sambo
who
made possiblethemirrorsofaristocracyin
manor.
Indeed
was
the baronial
whichSouthernplanterspreenedand theirwivescoquettedandwere courted.Butitwas a
rococo aristocracyand thegiltcould suddenlycrackifSamboturnedtheJanusfaceofNat.
He was maliciousenoughto do so withsome frequency.
It is fairto saythat,as Blassingamepointedout,Samboand Natwere two constructsin
the ideological arsenalofthe slave owner/bourgeois
master,bywhichhe constructedhis
slave
who
did hiswork,bowed and scraped,
the
Sambo
was
obedient
own self-conception.
was submissive or, as J.A.Froude puts it,faithfuland affectionateTO THOSEWHOAREJUST
AND
KINDTOHIM.The ethicsofbeingjustand kindwere theethicsbornout ofthisrelation.The
theuse offorceas a necessarymechanism
"rebellious"stereotypeofNatTurnerlegitimated
the
forensuringregularsteadylabor.AstheBenthamite
ideologyofinertmatterlegitimated
use ofhungerto compelwage labortowork,so was,to use Froude'sterms,the"mangycur"
is thencalled
to whichtheblackrelapses,drifts
back,withouta firmhand.Sternpunishment
are thereby
of
kindness
and
force
and thedual approaches
foron the partof the "father,"
simulation.
as father-child
ofthemaster-slave
sanctionedby and throughtheconstruction
The constructof the"person"ofthemasteras "responsibleagent"is confirmed
by the
Sambodrewfromthemaster-model
slave who acts likeSambo.Indeed theslave-acting-out
theexperienceofthelatteras beingthepaternal
impulsesofbenevolence,thusintensifying
Itis nottheblue-bloodcategory
characteristic.
hereis notan intrinsic
father.Formastership
Ratherthereis a
ofthefeudalorderwhichexistedas an index,as an unquestionedattribute.
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Wynter
152
theNorm of mastery,ofwhich thewhiteskinis merelya sign.Thus
place of the NORM,
mastery,the experiencingofthe identityofbeingmastercan be lost.Ifone failsby one's
actionto act so as to occupythePlace oftheNorm,one canbe displacedfromtheNorm,can
fall into being the Non-Norm,in thiscase, Sambo.Anysubversivedesirewhich moves
outside the Norm is repressed freelyby the self which "recognizes"this desire as
Sambo.
stigmatizedby and throughthe symbol/stereotype,
But since the certaintyof occupyingthe Place of the Normcan onlybe confirmed
theonlyactionopen to the
throughthe recognitionofhis mastershipby the Non-Norm,
masteris to compel thisrecognitionfromtheOther.The certainty
oftheselfas mastercan
be
and
obtained
a
cultural
and
emotional
terrorism
directedatthe
only
through constant
by
Non-Norm.This terrorism
directedat the non-normis onlythe extensionofthe internal
terrorismdirectedat the self,ofitspsychicrepression.
As Deleuze and Guattaripoint out in theirAnti-Oedipus,"thereis no fixedsubject
unlessthereis repression."The strategies
ofcapitalismas a modeofdominationdependson
themodes ofsocial repressionwhichassignsstandardized
to their
prescribedego identities
for
the
of
the
social
machine.
The
social
machine
assigned places,
functioning
homogeofthe"negro,"a processduringwhichithomogenizedmultiple
nizes-as in itsconstitution
ofthe"white"
cultures,multiplegeneticstrainsintoone entity--asin its"blanchification"
Americanin which it homogenizesmultiplecultures,ethnicities,
strains
intoone
genetic
to demarcate,to inscribe,so as
entity.Butonce ithas homogenizeditneedsto differentiate,
to produce themulti-layered
levelsnecessaryto thehierarchicalstructures
ofproduction.
To achievethis,thecentralstrategy
ofthesystemis thecolonizationofdesire.How does
thisstrategyfunction?
Firstofall thesystemproducestheimaginary
social signification
of
thePlace oftheNorm.The Place oftheNORM
and
the
definition
of
is constituted
by
through
certaindesiredattributes.
The mostdesiredattribute
was the"intellectual
The
faculty." sign
thatpointedto one's possessionofthisattribute
was whitenessofskin.The signthatpointed
to its nonpossessionwas blacknessof skin,which revealednon-humanbeing.The black
exists as the SymbolicObject constituting
the Lack,theVoid ofthesequalitiesthathave
been postulatedas theabsolutesignofthecertainty
ofbeinghuman.Thata manor almosta
man can exist,lackingthesethings,
setsintoplaytheterrorthattheseattributes
can be lost.
The plantationorderwhich made it illegalfora slave to learnto read and become
educated, which exhausted the black with relentlesswork, then produced empirical
evidence of the Negro's "lack of intellectualfaculties."The Negro then becomes the
SYMBOLIC OBECT OF THIS LACKWHICH IS DESIGNATEDASTHE LACKOF THE HUMAN.The category and
quality Lack is then constitutedby the "negro" in his Sambo stereotype.The self,to
constituteitselfas human in the normativeconception,must then conceptualizethe
ofbeing
possibilityof lack,the lack of the intellectualfaculties,ofbeingthe non-human,
into
the
of
the
ofa possibility
Sambo.This representation
socially
engenders anxiety falling
stigmatized.This anxiety engendersthe prescribed,the colonized desire. This then
the imitative
becomes the mechanismwhich instillsthe imitationof the master-model,
in
and
that
one
and
the
fear
the
Place
to
Norm,
maynotfall
acting
trembling
quest occupy
off.To occupy the place of the Normone mustinscribeon one's psychethe marksof
as itsnon-negation.
repression,repressall thattheplace oftheNormstigmatizes
The social machineoftheplantationsystem,a machinewhose marksand inscriptions
are so well describedby EdwardLong,colonized,above all, Desire.The colonizationof
of the
desires once carriedout and effectedby and throughthe social interrelationships
Thus the
different
partsof the system,thenleaves thiscolonized desireto work"freely."
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Sambos & Minstrels
153
system apparently gives absolute freedom of choice on the parts ofthose legitimatedas free
in the plantation system.These are the Pure White ofwhatever class. Althoughtheyare Pure
White, they must act in order to legitimatethe privilege of being Pure White. This privilege
is absolute in relation to the Non-Norm. In relation to other Whites, the category of the
intellectual faculty and the degrees of its lack comes into play to assign each white his
proper place, his class position. But his caste position is interdependent with his class
position. The absolute privilege of the caste position compensates for the relative nonprivilege of the class position. The lower the class position, the more absolute is the anxiety
that the caste position should be retained and recognized as absolute.
The terror of lack, a terrorceaselessly produced by the social and cultural machine of
the system,is put into play. Sambo is produced as the symbolof the Negative Other,the very
principle of Lack. One must strive to attain to the Pure White as Full Being, without any
security that this cannot be lost, that one cannot fall offinto the dark. This terror then
reactivates the Lack. As Deleuze and Guattariwrite:
Lack(manque) is created,plannedandorganizedinandthroughsocialproduction....It is never
The
primary;productionis never organizedon the basis of a preexistingneed or lack.
....class.
deliberatecreationoflack as a functionofthemarketeconomyis theartofthedominant
Its central strategy,in the case of plantation relations,was the creation of a lack of being by
and through its imposition of the structurallaw of value of being. Thus the value of white
being needs to be constantly realized, recognized, attained by the social act of exchange
with the relative non-value of black being, a non-value represented by the Symbolic
Negro/Sambo. It is this social act of exchange that communicates to the white about his
own autonomy, an autonomy which as in the case of thewhite workers,Pease and Reynolds,
the white does not experience in other aspects of his life.
In Black Boy Richard Wright tells of an incident with his fellow workers Pease and
Reynolds:
The climaxcame at noon one summerday.Pease calledme to hisworkbench;to getto himI
had to go between two narrowbenches and standwithmyback againsta wall.
Pease beganpleasantly,
notlookingup fromhiswork.
"Richard,I wantto askyousomething,"
"Yes sir."
Reynoldscame overand stoodblockingthenarrowpassagebetweenthebenches;he folded
his armsand staredatme solemnly.I lookedfromone to theother,sensingtrouble.Pease looked
ofmynotunderstanding.
up and spoke slowly,so therewould be no possibility
"Richard,Reynoldstellsme thatyou called me Pease,"he said.
I stiffened.
A void opened in me. I knewthatthiswas theshowdown.
He meantthatI had failedto call himMr.Pease. I lookedat Reynolds;he was grippinga steel
barin hishand.I opened mymouthtospeak,toprotest,toassurePeasethatI hadnevercalledhim
simplyPease, and thatI had neverhad anyintentionofdoingso,whenReynoldsgrabbedme by
the collar,rammingmyhead againsta wall.
snarledReynolds,
"Now,be careful,
nigger,"
baringhisteeth."I heardyoucall'imPease.Andif
me
a
see?"
He waved thesteelbar threateningly.
liar,
you sayyou didn't,you'recalling
IfI hadsaid:No,sir,Mr.Pease,I nevercalledyouPease,I wouldbyinference
havebeen calling
I
if
I
Mr.
I
a
and
had
said:
called
would
have
been pleading
Yes,sir, Pease,
Reynolds liar;
youPease,
I
the
a
can
to
man.
to
worst
insult
that
offer
a
southern
white
stood
tothinkofa
Negro
guilty
trying
neutralcourse thatwould resolvethisquicklyrisennightmare,
butmytonguewould notmove.
"Richard,I askedyou a question!"Pease said.Angerwas creepingintohisvoice.
"I don'tremembercallingyouPease, Mr.Pease,"I said cautiously."AndifI did,I suredidn't
mean..."
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
154
Wynter
"Youblacksonofabitch!
YoucalledmePease,then!"hespat,rising
andslapping
metillI bent
sidewaysovera bench.
wasup on topofmedemanding:
Reynolds
I'llripyourgutstring
loosewiththisf--k--g
"Didn'tyoucallhimPease?Ifyousayyoudidn't,
bar,youblackgranny
dodger!You can'tcalla whitemana liarandgetawaywithit!"
I wilted.I beggedthemnottohitme.I knewwhattheywanted.
Theywantedmetoleavethe
job.
"I'llleave,"I promised.
"I'llleaveright
now!"
Pease and Reynoldswant,above all, recognitionof theirabsoluteand unquestioned
mastery.The emotionalterrorismthattheydisplaytowardsWrightis matchedby their
subservienceto the Yankee employerwho, however,recognizesthatin theirclaim to
he has foundone pointwheretheyarepreparedto challengehim.
dominanceoverWright,
His own attitudeto Wrightis partlybased on thefactthatas a Northerner
he comes froma
in
which
the
in whichthe
of
has
and
therefore
society
rationality production penetrated
of
the
worker
skilled
takes
over
the
division.
His own
white/black
precedence
imperative
ofproduction,
hismastery
is
masterycomes fromhisunquestionedrightto theorganization
in
his
In
the
relation
of
his
of
the
productiveactivity.
expressed
Manager-Worker, privilege
selfis not onlyunquestionedbut rationally
legitimated.
betweenWright,
Whatwe note in theinteraction
Pease,and Reynoldsis thepathology
of"whiteness"put intoplay,and thispathologyis theconjoinedvariantofthepathologyof
the colonizer thatFanon and Memmianalyze;the pathologyof the middleclass, of the
is thefact
explored.Whatwe note in theinteraction
bourgeoisie,thatis yetinsufficiently
thatPease and Reynoldsactso as to compelWrighttobehavelikeSambo.What,we mustask
ourselves,underliesthiscompellingneed of Pease and Reynoldsto produce Sambo-like
behavioron thepartofWright?
Deleuze and Guattarigive an insightintotheprocessesthatare at workhere:
Desireis notbolstered
thecontrary;
needsarederived
from
desire;theyare
byneeds,butrather
withintherealthatdesireproduces.Lackis a counter-effect
ofdesire;it is
counter-products
within
a sealthatisnatural
andsocial.... Desirethenbecomes
vacuolized,
distributed,
deposited,
thisabjectfearoflacking
something.
Being in the Southernexperiencehad come to be formulated
by and throughthemastermodel.Allcould notbe equal masters,
butone could be a smallmaster,or as Memmiargues,
one could be a smallcolonizer.The colonizeddesireitselfproducestheneed based on the
sense oflack,theneed to be masterin orderto experienceoneselfas theNorm,as human.
One should makea distinctionborrowedfromLacan-who distinguishes
betweenthe
SymbolicFatherin the SymbolicOrderof each societyand the real father-betweenthe
or in
SymbolicWhiteand theSymbolicNegro,eitherin hisSambostereotype,
submissive,
hisNatTurnerphase,rebellious,andtherealwhiteandrealblack.WhatPease andReynolds
as real whitesdo in theirinteraction
withWrightis to compelhimas realblackto occupy
the Symbolicplace of Sambo so thattheycan activatethe experienceofparticipating
in
of
and
relative
To
attain
this
are
Whiteness,
Symbolic
privilege
power.
privilegethey
prepared to socially and psychologicallyrepress Wrightjust as they represswithin
themselvesanysubversivedesirewhichflowsoutsidetheprescribedand regulateddesires
of the social order.
It is in thissense thatwe shouldviewtheSambostereotype
as thescapegoat-carrier
ofall
alternativepotentialitiesthatare repressedin the system.Sambobecomes the represen-
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Sambos & Minstrels
155
to his stigmatized
tationof all desirethatflowsoutsidethe normalorder.The attachment
causes theseto be thenproscribedalongwithhis
figureofotherdesires,otherpossibilities,
Symbolicbeing.
This is the linkthatexistsbetween Sambo the docile submissivestereotypeand the
thesongand dance man.WhenSamboandtheminstrel
problemoftheminstrelstereotype,
are conjoined itbecomes clear thatthestereotypeis thecarriernotonlyofall thatmustbe
but also of all thatmustbe
repressedifone wants to aspire to the whitemasterMODEL,
repressed if one wants to aspire to the Middle Class Master-model.Harold Cruse has
recentlyextendedNathanHuggins'earlierdiscussionofthewhiteAmericanvariantofthe
MinstrelShow,arguingforthecomplex natureoftheminstrelshow,itscentralrole in the
developmentof theAmericanmusicalform.
The AmericanMinstrelshow is a directdevelopmentout ofthepopularfolkculturesof
fromthe parallelfolk
Africa,with possibly,as the Jonkunnuplays show, contributions
culturesofprecapitalistEurope.The pointto notehereis thewordpopular.Whatis being
stigmatizedin the stereotypicaltreatmentof the minstrelis at once black cultureand
popular culture,both opposed to the middle class worldview.Hence the middleclass
the complex
worldview draws in what it needs fromthe popularcultures,transforming
into
entertainment.
of
harmless
tradition
satire
popular
who came out of thepopular
But as Cruse observes,the factthatblack entertainers
ofthe forms.
culturemoved to takeover and give lifeto theforms,led to a revitalization
the forceand power of the dynamicblack
Because of this,even underthe stereotyping,
itcreatedandbegantheculturalsubversion
popularculturecame to filla lackthatbyfilling
of the normativebourgeoisAmericanreality.
as black,as ofAfrican
origin,and as
Whywas itthatitwould be theculture,stigmatized
and thecountersignification
of the popularforces,thatwould providethecounterculture
I thinkthereasoncan be foundin theplantationmodel,in
systemin theAmericanreality?
the interrelationof the "white"masterand the "negro"Sambo. It is here thatHegel's
as well as Fanon'sdevelopmentofit,can perhaps
relationship,
analysisofthe master-slave
give us insights.
Firsthowever,we mustnote thatit is not onlythepopularblackculturethatis being
in a
stigmatizedby the Sambo stereotype,the minstrelstereotype.Farmoreimportantly,
it
that
is
as
its
is
the
economic
all
cultural
that
realityprinciple,
activity
system
produces
thatcould drawenergyawayfromtheproductivegoal,that
stigmatized.Popularcreativity
Middleclass culturalactivity
could liberaterepressedsubversivedesirewas stigmatized.
himself
attachedto thefigureofthemarginalartist,
would be spiritualized,
postulatedas the
Bohemian,the licensed hereticallowed to dabble in the non-realthingsof theworld.As
could
such he produced artisticcommoditiesthatthe real men, captainsof industry,
like
the
then
became
for
their
wives.
home,
Spiritualizedart,
purchase
the-domainof
The devaluationofitsactivity
was carriedoutbyand
Women or ofmarginalizedhumanists.
of
would
this
with
the
feminine
as
the
devaluation
theoretical
association
activity
through
be stigmatizedby the stereotypesof eggheads,pointy-heads.
The marginalization
of creativeculturalactivitywas thereforecarriedout through
stereotype.The
parallel strategies;and one of these strategieswas the Sambo/minstrel
the
of
which
was
of
culture
carried
out
through privileging theeconomic,
marginalization
the autonomizationofthe economic,drew attentionawayfromthefactthatthecapitalist
mode of dominationworksmainlythroughits culturalapparatus--andthatthe mode of
productionconstitutesone of its centralculturalmechanisms.StanleyAronowitzargues
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
156
Wynter
that the workplace is the verysite of the ideological dominationof the worker.Jean
colonizationoftheworkercarriedouton thesiteof
Baudrillarddiscusses,too,theindustrial
the factory.The plantation-model
the sourceand origin.
was, I am suggesting,
In thisoverallcontext,theprocessthatI have triedto defineas theculturalprocessof
INDIGENIZATION
takeson varieddimensions.In constituting
anotherself,anothercollective
moved outside the framework
of the dominant
identitywhose coding and signification
the
were
involved
in
slaves
a
and
sustained
Slave revolts
ideology,
long
counterstruggle.
were the punctuationsof thisstruggle,the violentstrategiescarrying
on the struggleby
othermeans.WhatI am arguingis thatwhatElkinsdefinesas themechanismofrebellion
was to be foundin thisconstitution
ofan alternative
culture.The constitution
ofthisculture
has all along been a sustainedact of culturalsubversion,a subversionof the dominant
formulations
systemas axiomatic.Thiscounterculture
providesthebasisforthetheoretical
of the formsofsocial revolutionneeded in Americantoday.
This content downloaded from 128.114.34.22 on Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:34:35 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions