Representations of Class and Gender in African American Literature

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K12960
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
• Research Institution: University of Hyogo
• Principal Investigator: Nagira Yuri 兵庫県立大学, 環境人間学部, 准教授 (40835253)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: アフリカ系アメリカ文学 / 人種 / ジェンダー / 階級 / ハーレム・ルネッサンス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study focused on class and gender discrimination within the black community in novels written by African Americans, and aimed to clarify how the representation of class and gender changed in 20th century black American literature. The protagonists in the works before and after the Harlem Renaissance were those who adhered to the class and ideals they had established in white society and suffered from the inability to forge strong alliances with their fellow citizens. In the post-Civil Rights Movement works, the focus was on the emotional connections formed by the loneliness experienced by those who are vulnerable due to their class and gender situations, even as they each suffer in their own unique ways.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

黒人作家の描いた階級を論じた先駆的研究はあるが部分的なものにとどまっている。米国社会における機会の不均等さを最も痛切に感じてきたのは明らかに黒人たちでありながら、階級に対する彼らの視点が注目されにくい。特に文学研究の文脈では、黒人のコミュニティ自体を分断させかねないため、階級およびジェンダーに関する視点はタブー視されやすい。とはいえ、先行する黒人作家を意識し彼らを模倣しつつも彼らとは違う黒人像を提示してきたアメリカ黒人文学が、アメリカ合衆国特有の問題をいかに乗り越えてきたのかという点について、マイノリティ同士での衝突の原因ともなりうる緊張関係に光をあてた点で本研究の意義は大きい。