Open Access
American Research Journal of English and Literature
ISSN (Online): 2378-9026
DOI: 10.46568/arjel
American Africanism: A Racialized Discourse of Literary Imagination in Toni Morrison’s “Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and Literary Imagination”
The University of Sydney, Former Assistant Professor, World University of Bangladesh.
Jebun Ara Geeti, “American Africanism: A Racialized Discourse of Literary Imagination in Toni Morrison’s
“Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and Literary Imagination””, American Research Journal of English and Literature,
Vol 9, no. 1, 2023, pp. 102-108
Abstract
This paper aims to clarify whether the National Literature of America is cohesive or integrated in regard to the spontaneous
presence of African-American culture. It is apparent that African presence in American literary studies is noticeably
insignificant even though it has significantly helped shaping the policy, government, Constitution, and the entire history
of American culture. In “Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination,” Toni Morrison presents a different
perception of “Americanness” in connection to the standing of African literary studies in America. The author notes that the
basic traits of American literature has evolved from an awareness of “Americanness” that consciously refuse to integrate
the irresistible presence of the Black. It is important to note that the common characteristics of American Literature
have never incorporated the Black presence which could have been perceived as a true image of an unsettled plight of
African American people. Indeed, an artificial presence of Africanism is generated by the white authors and critics that
has triggered as well as established an idea of “Americanness” which is meticulously termed by Morrison as “American
Africanism”. That projected concept of “American Africanism” is actively engaged in defining the shadowy presence of
the Black within American Literature. The framework of “American Africanism” is not only Eurocentric but also strongly
supported by American scholars and the entire education system in order to suppress the issues of class, Afro-American
scholarships, exercise of power, and social engagement. This paper aims to explore why national literature of America
is never influenced by African-American presence and what are the noticeable influences that have remarkably slowed
down the robust presence of Africanism in the mainstream literature of America.
