Spring Break
Experts shed light on "Obamania"
by Benjamin Terris
Associate editor
News | 3/4/08
Posted online at 4:39 AM EST on 3/4/08
There is no doubt that Sen. Barack Obama has become some sort of American phenomenon. People faint when he talks, cheer when he blows his nose and cry when his speeches are put to music by the lead singer of the Black Eyed Peas. A new lexicon is born giving us words as self explanatory as "Barackstar" or "Obamania" and as esoteric as "Obamatopoeia" (the word for a really good Obama impression). Clearly, there is excitement behind this campaign.
As a black man on the verge of a possible democratic nomination, Obama is also a racial phenomenon, and with this come many questions. Debates across the country are being waged about what kind of black candidate Obama really is, of what importance his race is, whether he represents a unique persona in political history and whether he has ended identity politics. Last Monday night, a panel of Prof. Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS), Prof. Jacqueline Jones (HIST), Prof. Mingus Mapps (POL) and Prof. Peniel Joseph (AAAS) examined these exact topics.
Sundiata began the evening by looking at Obama from what he called the most rarified position on the panel. As a historian and scholar of comparative race and ethnicity, Sundiata wanted to look at Obama from a racial standpoint.
"First I want to examine whether Obama is a kind of end of America's racial nightmare, or just an evasion," Sundiata said. "Some writers have argued that Barack Obama is a viable candidate because he does not represent the African-American spirits. Several writers say that the reason that whites have been enamored of him is because he is not representative. The question is, does Obama's elevation represent the confrontation with the American heritage of slavery and Jim Crow, or is it an image of transcendence palatable to the white mainstream?"
It may seem confusing that a black politician born in the United States could be accused of not being a true African-American, but Sundiata offered examples of people who believe just that. He spoke about the work of a black writer, named Deborah Dickerson, who in early 2007 went from talk show to talk show claiming that America was avoiding dealing with its racism by supporting Obama. She believed that America-by embracing a black man who was not a descendent of slavery, who did not experience the same suffering in his heritage, but was born to recent immigrants-was not supporting a true African-American.
As a black man on the verge of a possible democratic nomination, Obama is also a racial phenomenon, and with this come many questions. Debates across the country are being waged about what kind of black candidate Obama really is, of what importance his race is, whether he represents a unique persona in political history and whether he has ended identity politics. Last Monday night, a panel of Prof. Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS), Prof. Jacqueline Jones (HIST), Prof. Mingus Mapps (POL) and Prof. Peniel Joseph (AAAS) examined these exact topics.
Sundiata began the evening by looking at Obama from what he called the most rarified position on the panel. As a historian and scholar of comparative race and ethnicity, Sundiata wanted to look at Obama from a racial standpoint.
"First I want to examine whether Obama is a kind of end of America's racial nightmare, or just an evasion," Sundiata said. "Some writers have argued that Barack Obama is a viable candidate because he does not represent the African-American spirits. Several writers say that the reason that whites have been enamored of him is because he is not representative. The question is, does Obama's elevation represent the confrontation with the American heritage of slavery and Jim Crow, or is it an image of transcendence palatable to the white mainstream?"
It may seem confusing that a black politician born in the United States could be accused of not being a true African-American, but Sundiata offered examples of people who believe just that. He spoke about the work of a black writer, named Deborah Dickerson, who in early 2007 went from talk show to talk show claiming that America was avoiding dealing with its racism by supporting Obama. She believed that America-by embracing a black man who was not a descendent of slavery, who did not experience the same suffering in his heritage, but was born to recent immigrants-was not supporting a true African-American.
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