For those of you who aren't familiar, Frantz Fanon was a writer born in 1925 in Martinique (which was, and still is a French colony). He is known most famously for his novel Black Skin/ White Masks, in which he gives his views about how a black man must put on the mask of a white man in order to be "successful" in life. In addition, his writings were some of the foundational tutelage's for Malcolm X.
In his essay, The Wretched of the Earth, he writes about "cultural banishment" as it applies to "colonized" people; how the colonizer's come in and suddenly establish the new approved culture and anyone who chooses not to follow these cultural norms are then culturally banished. Meaning, that in order to be accepted or successful in the new society, one must let go of their old culture and become submerged in the "white" culture.
Is this issue a theme even today in 2006 America? Are minorities still made to submit to the the dominant culture in order to feel accepted or to achieve success?
Unfortunately, I believe so. However, I do believe that we are making huge leaps toward a more inclusive and diversity accepting nation--or at least I would like to believe this. For example, in corporate America new "inclusive" policies are starting to emerge that insist on diversity being present in organizations--more diversity means more perspectives, which means higher levels of innovation; it's just good business sense. These inclusive policies range from cultural awareness training for managers, flexibility for working mothers, leadership training for women and minorities, diversity standards for equal representation among all levels employees, and much much more...
What does that mean for our culture as a whole? Will our present "dominant culture" go under dramatic changes as a result to become more representative the multi-cultural nation we are? What do you think?
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I think that in this country we definately self segregate and in our own little communities it is acceptable to engage in your own cultures societal norms. But I will agree that this is a white man's world even if I don't like that fact. I have a friend that is African American and she has admited to acting differently when she hangs out with her white friends. She says her black friends say she is "acting white." I think that conformity is kind of natural in a sense though. I never asked my friend to "act white" or treated her any different in order to encourage this behavior. She did it on her own. I think the same would happen if a white person moved into South Central L.A. or somewhere that is predominately one kind of culture or race. People conform to survive. It is unfortunate but the white male still dominates this land we call "the melting pot."
Really interesting perspective and I am glad you brought up that writer. Had you not written about him, I may not have ever heard about his work.
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