LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:7 July 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Self-Abomination and Personal Failure:
A Reading of Kalamu Ya Salaam’s Play, The Quest

N. Vijayalakshmi, M.A., M.Phil., Research Scholar
Soumya Jose, M.A., B.Ed., MPhil., Ph.D.


Kalamu Ya Salaam
Courtesy: http://www2.tulane.edu/calendar/event-details.cfm?uid=FE4695BB-A64E-1233-92F82D818EEC874F

Abstract

African Americans consider their skin colour and kinky hair as impediments to succeed in the American society. The mainstream playwrights have projected negative stereotype images of the African Americans, consequently, they have developed a sense of self-abhorrence which results in their personal failure. The present paper analyses how self-abomination causes disasters in the lives of African Americans. Kalamu Ya Salaam, through the play, The Quest, states that African Americans cannot succeed in life unless they uphold their African heritage and find pride in their racial background.

Keywords: self-hatred, psychically colonized, resilience, discrimination, negative images.

Racial Discrimination: Physical and Emotional Barrier

Racial discrimination is a burning issue in the lives of the African Americans in the American society. Since the days of slavery, African Americans have been marginalized and victimized by the white supremacists because of their skin colour. Their marginal status acts as an impediment for them to improve their life situations in the American society. The white created a myth that the African Americans are subhuman because of their skin colour and physical appearance. The words “black” and “racism” act as a physical and emotional barrier between whites and blacks. White American supremacists propagated that whiteness equals goodness and purity, and blackness refers to evil. In reality, whites are hypocrites who demean the African Americans to the core, and it results in self-abomination among the black.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

N. Vijayalakshmi, M.A., M.Phil., Research Scholar
Department of English
School of Social Sciences and Languages
VIT University
Vellore-632014
Tamilnadu
India
vijayalakshmin15@gmail.com

Soumya Jose, M.A., B.Ed., MPhil., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
School of Social Sciences and Languages
VIT University
Vellore-632014
Tamilnadu
India
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