Re-searching my scar: Interrogating otherness in The Searchers and in my racial rearing

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Roy Schwartzman, Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: This essay juxtaposes the process of “Othering” in the 1956 John Ford western The Searchers with my own indoctrination into White privilege as a child growing up in suburban Atlanta during the mid-to-late 1960s. The film’s stark portrayal of anti-Native American attitudes confronts the problematic construction of the non-White racial “Other” in westerns as a threat to racial and sexual purity. Its relentless pursuit of the implications of racism triggers my own confrontation with the subtle but persistent degradations of African Americans in my upbringing.

Additional Information

Publication
Language: English
Date: 2012
Keywords
the searchers, John Ford, white privilege, racial purity, cultural studies

Email this document to