Autoethnographic Analysis Of Our Time By Mary Louise Wideman
An Autoethnographic Analysis of “Our Time”
The 1960’s were a time of civil revolution for the black community. The civil rights movement was in full swing and the black community was determined to find their own identity. The antagonist to the civil rights movement was the association in the American imagination of black people with ugliness, danger, and deterioration because black life seemed to stem from the urban ghetto – the polar opposite to the “square world” of the white man. Some people living in these areas held a very different world view than those abiding by the norms of society. In this world, all the glamour, praise, and attention go to the slick guy, the “player”, or the “gangster” because they represented rebellion against …show more content…
a world that hated the community. In this world, it was unacceptable to be “good” and to be in was to be out of touch with the norms of right and wrong of the “square” world. This stark contrast of worldviews is cleverly portrayed in Wideman’s “Our Time” through the recollection of events by his mother, Robby, and himself, making it an autoethnographic / transcultural text in the sense that both worldviews are both self-portrayed and examined through the other viewpoint. In order to analyze Wideman’s work it is imperative to understand the fundamentals of an autoethnography.
Mary Louise Pratt describes an authoethnography in her work, “Arts of the Contact Zone:
A text in which people engage with representations other have made of them…Autoethnographic texts are representations that the so-defined others construct in response to or in dialogue with those texts (ethnographies) … [T]hey involve a selective collaboration with and appropriation of idioms of the metropolis or the conqueror. These are merged or infiltrated to varying degrees with indigenous idioms to create self-representations intended to intervene in metropolitan modes of understanding…Such texts constitute a marginalized group’s point of entry into the dominant circuits of print culture.
Essentially, there are two key characteristics of an autoethnography. First, they present a view that is contrary to the views about the subject held by others and engage in some conflict with such misrepresentations, creating a “contact zone. Secondly they also may incorporate the use of fused foreign and domestic idioms so as to better communicate its viewpoint or depiction. Both of these elements are more or less used in Wideman’s text to some
extent. The first element of autoethnographic character is present in many places throughout the text; however, it is difficult to pin down any one line or statement that perfectly demonstrates this element because the characters’ beliefs are subtly developed through numerous statements with some being more blatant than others. One of the most obvious statements was made by Robby saying, “The man killed Garth. Couldn’t kill him no deader with a .357 magnum slug, but ain’t no crime been committed.” It is fairly obvious that Robby firmly believes that the doctors had no intention of saving Garth because the professionals and citizens of the doctors’ world, the “square” world, despise Robby, his culture, and his respective community. Such an assessment is clearly an example of the first element of an autoethnography in that a view about medical treatment quite contrary to the probable reader and his/her culture is presented. The second element of autoethnographic character is perhaps not quite as obvious within the text due to the similarities of the two cultures. The best example present is probably how each world tends to describe success. Robby was determined to succeed by making money through drug-dealing, theft, and other criminal activities because in order to truly succeed in his culture money must be made in “your own way,” not the in the way of the “square” world which exclusively promotes honest, legal work. Having satisfied the second requirement, it is apparent, then, that “Our Time” has all of the required characteristics of an authoethnography. “Our Time,” however, is not entirely autoethnographic, or more specifically, not autoethnographic at all times. Only when characters are describing events and opinions through their own narration, and thus their particular worldview, is the text autoethnographic. Thus the text takes on this property either when Robby and Wideman’s mother describe life in Homewood, their personal feelings and motives, the story of Garth, and their hostility toward the outside world or when Wideman describes his interpretation of events.
Despite the fleeting quality of being autoethnographic, the entire text takes place in the contact zone. All the characters are affected in some way by the actions of all the others in the context of the story. Each character views, interprets, and reacts differently to a shared situation and while the characters are linked by the bonds of family, they are separated by a metaphorical wall of privacy which allows them to interact within a contact zone. These characters and their respective world views and resulting contact zones are greater than the sum of their parts and serve a greater purpose within the text. They represent pieces of a far larger, more general contact zone; that between the “normal” working culture and the culture of the ghetto.
The interactions between the two cultures in this text are described as a contact zone because they take place within a context of difference which is to say that neither culture identifies itself in union with the other. This is apparent in numerous places throughout the text especially when Wideman’s mother changes her view and is described as, “an aggressive, acid critic of the status quo in all its forms.” She no longer attempts to empathize with the other culture and instead issues her judgment without remorse such as when she criticizes the tax system and the treatment of Garth. It is also apparent whenever Robby speaks of the other culture such as when he describes the actions of prison guards. In all these cases the persons of one particular group are viewing the entirety of another group as a uniform “other.” This is the bias for the context of difference and thus a contact zone.
Interestingly, John Wideman attempts to avoid this context of difference within the story so as to attempt to understand the actions of Robby and the feelings of his mother. He makes this known when he says, “the hardest habit to break, since it was the habit of a lifetime, would be listening to myself listen to him.” Wideman is saying that it is very difficult for him to not make Robby’s story his own as influenced by his personal perspective and experience of the events that transpired. Thus it is difficult for him to avoid the context of difference but he realizes that he must if he is to ever truly understand his brother just as society must avoid the same context of difference so as to understand African American culture and abolish racism.
“Our Time” most definitely is an authoethnographic text in that it effectively satisfies the qualities laid out by Pratt which are that a text must present a view that is contrary to the views about the subject held by others and engage in some conflict with such misrepresentations, creating a “contact zone and they may incorporate the use of fused foreign and domestic idioms so as to better communicate its viewpoint or depiction. Wideman recounts this emotionally charged tale from such an autoethnographic viewpoint so as to illustrate the way of thought and life within the ghetto and contrast it to the social norms of the white man of his time. This is done effectively by presenting his story through multiple viewpoints so as to account for the appeal of being a gangster and to explain the thought processes and motives behind every action. The reason for doing all this is so the reader can empathize with characters and the community as a whole, which is essentially the most effective weapon against racism.
The 1960’s were a time of civil revolution for the black community. The civil rights movement was in full swing and the black community was determined to find their own identity. The antagonist to the civil rights movement was the association in the American imagination of black people with ugliness, danger, and deterioration because black life seemed to stem from the urban ghetto – the polar opposite to the “square world” of the white man. Some people living in these areas held a very different world view than those abiding by the norms of society. In this world, all the glamour, praise, and attention go to the slick guy, the “player”, or the “gangster” because they represented rebellion against …show more content…
a world that hated the community. In this world, it was unacceptable to be “good” and to be in was to be out of touch with the norms of right and wrong of the “square” world. This stark contrast of worldviews is cleverly portrayed in Wideman’s “Our Time” through the recollection of events by his mother, Robby, and himself, making it an autoethnographic / transcultural text in the sense that both worldviews are both self-portrayed and examined through the other viewpoint. In order to analyze Wideman’s work it is imperative to understand the fundamentals of an autoethnography.
Mary Louise Pratt describes an authoethnography in her work, “Arts of the Contact Zone:
A text in which people engage with representations other have made of them…Autoethnographic texts are representations that the so-defined others construct in response to or in dialogue with those texts (ethnographies) … [T]hey involve a selective collaboration with and appropriation of idioms of the metropolis or the conqueror. These are merged or infiltrated to varying degrees with indigenous idioms to create self-representations intended to intervene in metropolitan modes of understanding…Such texts constitute a marginalized group’s point of entry into the dominant circuits of print culture.
Essentially, there are two key characteristics of an autoethnography. First, they present a view that is contrary to the views about the subject held by others and engage in some conflict with such misrepresentations, creating a “contact zone. Secondly they also may incorporate the use of fused foreign and domestic idioms so as to better communicate its viewpoint or depiction. Both of these elements are more or less used in Wideman’s text to some
extent. The first element of autoethnographic character is present in many places throughout the text; however, it is difficult to pin down any one line or statement that perfectly demonstrates this element because the characters’ beliefs are subtly developed through numerous statements with some being more blatant than others. One of the most obvious statements was made by Robby saying, “The man killed Garth. Couldn’t kill him no deader with a .357 magnum slug, but ain’t no crime been committed.” It is fairly obvious that Robby firmly believes that the doctors had no intention of saving Garth because the professionals and citizens of the doctors’ world, the “square” world, despise Robby, his culture, and his respective community. Such an assessment is clearly an example of the first element of an autoethnography in that a view about medical treatment quite contrary to the probable reader and his/her culture is presented. The second element of autoethnographic character is perhaps not quite as obvious within the text due to the similarities of the two cultures. The best example present is probably how each world tends to describe success. Robby was determined to succeed by making money through drug-dealing, theft, and other criminal activities because in order to truly succeed in his culture money must be made in “your own way,” not the in the way of the “square” world which exclusively promotes honest, legal work. Having satisfied the second requirement, it is apparent, then, that “Our Time” has all of the required characteristics of an authoethnography. “Our Time,” however, is not entirely autoethnographic, or more specifically, not autoethnographic at all times. Only when characters are describing events and opinions through their own narration, and thus their particular worldview, is the text autoethnographic. Thus the text takes on this property either when Robby and Wideman’s mother describe life in Homewood, their personal feelings and motives, the story of Garth, and their hostility toward the outside world or when Wideman describes his interpretation of events.
Despite the fleeting quality of being autoethnographic, the entire text takes place in the contact zone. All the characters are affected in some way by the actions of all the others in the context of the story. Each character views, interprets, and reacts differently to a shared situation and while the characters are linked by the bonds of family, they are separated by a metaphorical wall of privacy which allows them to interact within a contact zone. These characters and their respective world views and resulting contact zones are greater than the sum of their parts and serve a greater purpose within the text. They represent pieces of a far larger, more general contact zone; that between the “normal” working culture and the culture of the ghetto.
The interactions between the two cultures in this text are described as a contact zone because they take place within a context of difference which is to say that neither culture identifies itself in union with the other. This is apparent in numerous places throughout the text especially when Wideman’s mother changes her view and is described as, “an aggressive, acid critic of the status quo in all its forms.” She no longer attempts to empathize with the other culture and instead issues her judgment without remorse such as when she criticizes the tax system and the treatment of Garth. It is also apparent whenever Robby speaks of the other culture such as when he describes the actions of prison guards. In all these cases the persons of one particular group are viewing the entirety of another group as a uniform “other.” This is the bias for the context of difference and thus a contact zone.
Interestingly, John Wideman attempts to avoid this context of difference within the story so as to attempt to understand the actions of Robby and the feelings of his mother. He makes this known when he says, “the hardest habit to break, since it was the habit of a lifetime, would be listening to myself listen to him.” Wideman is saying that it is very difficult for him to not make Robby’s story his own as influenced by his personal perspective and experience of the events that transpired. Thus it is difficult for him to avoid the context of difference but he realizes that he must if he is to ever truly understand his brother just as society must avoid the same context of difference so as to understand African American culture and abolish racism.
“Our Time” most definitely is an authoethnographic text in that it effectively satisfies the qualities laid out by Pratt which are that a text must present a view that is contrary to the views about the subject held by others and engage in some conflict with such misrepresentations, creating a “contact zone and they may incorporate the use of fused foreign and domestic idioms so as to better communicate its viewpoint or depiction. Wideman recounts this emotionally charged tale from such an autoethnographic viewpoint so as to illustrate the way of thought and life within the ghetto and contrast it to the social norms of the white man of his time. This is done effectively by presenting his story through multiple viewpoints so as to account for the appeal of being a gangster and to explain the thought processes and motives behind every action. The reason for doing all this is so the reader can empathize with characters and the community as a whole, which is essentially the most effective weapon against racism.