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330108

Dialogical Triads and Dynamic Identity in Gwendolyn Brooks’s Poetry

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Studies in World Literature

Abstract

African American poetry has long served as a powerful platform for exploring the complexities of identity within a society marked by racial injustice and discrimination. Gwendolyn Brooks, a celebrated poet and Pulitzer Prize winner, emerges as a prominent figure in this tradition. Her work captures the diverse voices and experiences of Black communities in America. Thus, the objective of this paper is to examine the representation of identity in Brooks's poetry through the lens of Herman's dialogical self theory (DST) and Peter Raggatt's positioning theory. The paper argues that Brooks's poetry challenges the concept of a static, singular identity by portraying the self and culture as a dynamic interplay of multiple self-positions engaged in dialogue. It proposes that Brooks's poetry serves as a reflection of the diverse self-repertoire within African American society. Furthermore, the psychoanalytical reading of Brooks's poetry helps to locate what Hermans and Raggatt call “the personal chronotopes" and “dialogical triads" in these poems. The paper highlights the interplay between I-positions and counter-positions and the role the ambiguous signifiers play in these triads. The analysis reveals that the discussed poems embody both reflexive and social forms of positioning, and the dynamic nature of the African American identity. By employing DST and positioning theory, the paper proposes that Brooks's poetry reflects the multifaceted nature of African American experiences within the broader context of American society.
 

DOI

10.21608/tjhss.2023.330108

Keywords

African American poetry, multiplicity of the self, dialogical self-theory, personal chronotopes, Positioning Theory

Authors

First Name

Ebtihal

Last Name

Elshaikh

MiddleName

Abdelsalam

Affiliation

Tanta University

Email

ebtihalelshaikh@gmail.com

City

Cairo

Orcid

-

Volume

4

Article Issue

4

Related Issue

44021

Issue Date

2023-10-01

Receive Date

2023-11-01

Publish Date

2023-12-12

Page Start

88

Page End

98

Print ISSN

2636-4239

Online ISSN

2636-4247

Link

https://tjhss.journals.ekb.eg/article_330108.html

Detail API

https://tjhss.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=330108

Order

330,108

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,087

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Transcultural Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Publication Link

https://tjhss.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Dialogical Triads and Dynamic Identity in Gwendolyn Brooks’s Poetry

Details

Type

Article

Created At

25 Dec 2024