Defense Date

11-17-2005

Graduation Date

Fall 2005

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Clinical Psychology

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Russell Walsh

Committee Member

Bruce Fink

Committee Member

Leswin Laubsher

Committee Member

Paul Richer

Committee Member

Francesco C. Cesareo

Keywords

interracial marriage, racism, discourse analysis, critical discursive psychology, Michel Foucault, color-blindness

Abstract

Interracial marriage remains one of the most emotionally charged issues in the troubled racial history of the United States. Love in Black and White: The Triumph of Love over Prejudice and Taboo is Mark and Gail Mathabane's relatively popular memoir of their interracial marriage. Using this text as a means of access to the discourses surrounding interracial marriage in the post-Civil Rights era, this study applies the key Foucauldian concepts of discourse, power, subjectivity, and critique to an interpretation of this text in relation to its sociohistorical context. Color-Blind Love emerges as the dominant discourse of the memoir and this Foucauldian discourse analysis consists of an explication of: 1) this discourse, 2) the implications of its associated subject positions, and 3) the historical, institutional, political, and ideological dimensions of the context that sustain this discourse--and that this discourse simultaneously helps to bolster. Though the notion of Color-Blind Love was formerly quite radical, this analysis shows that it now helps to maintain racial inequalities. New ways of thinking about and articulating the experience of interracial marriage are needed.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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