Name and Power Relation to African-American Identity in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

Imam Ahmad Turmuzy; Nahdhiyah Nahdhiyah; Ahmad Ahmad

doi:10.24071/joll.v24i2.7769

Name and Power Relation to African-American Identity in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

Imam Ahmad Turmuzy⁽¹⁾, Nahdhiyah Nahdhiyah⁽²⁾, Ahmad Ahmad^(3*),

(1) Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar
(2) Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar
(3) Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study aims to explore the relationship between names and African-American identity in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Through a qualitative descriptive analysis, the study investigates how power relations influence the construction of African-American identity in the novel. This study used semiotic approach by applying Charles Sander Peirce’s semiotic theory in examiningg the use of name, as well as sociological approach by applying Michel Foucault's concept of power relations in analyzing power relation to social identity. The findings reveal that names, while significant, are not the sole determinants of African-American identity. The study discovers that, after the Civil War, many African-American characters in the novel chose names of European origin in an attempt to avoid negative racial stigma and discrimination. Instead, the study finds that identity construction is primarily shaped by social categorization and comparison and that power relations play a crucial role in limiting positive representations of African-American identity. This study sheds new light on the relationship between names, power, and African-American identity in literature and provides insights into the ongoing discourse surrounding these important cultural and social issues.

Keywords

name and power relation; identity; African-American literature; Ralph Ellison; Invisible Man

Full Text:

PDF

References

Andrews, W. L. (2004). An Introduction to the Slave Narrative. Docsouth. Unc. Edu. Docsouth. Unc. Edu.

Bottone, E. (2020). “Please Mention the Green Book:” The Negro Motorist Green Book as Critical GIS. Historical Geography, GIScience and Textual Analysis: Landscapes of Time and Place, 51–64.

Cook, L. D., Logan, T. D., & Parman, J. M. (2014). Distinctively black names in the American past. Explorations in Economic History, 53, 64–82.

Corey, A. W. (2021). The Reverberating Flesh: Refiguring Blackness and Sex in Ralph Ellison’s Musical Basements. Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory, 77(1), 1–32.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage Publications.

Dahl, R. A. (1957). The concept of power. Behavioral Science, 2(3), 201–215.

Ellison, R. (1964). Hidden name and complex fate. Shadow and Act, 144–166.

Ellison, R. (1995). Conversations with Ralph Ellison. Univ. Press of Mississippi.

Ellison, R. (2016). Invisible man. Penguin UK.

Fitzpatrick, L. A. (2012). African names and naming practices: The impact slavery and European domination had on the African psyche, identity and protest. The Ohio State University.

Foucault, M. (2002). The Archeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language. Routledge.

Foucault, M. (2019). Power: the essential works of Michel Foucault 1954-1984. Penguin UK.

Fryer Jr, R. G., & Levitt, S. D. (2004). The causes and consequences of distinctively black names. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119(3), 767–805.

Gutman, H. G. (1977). The Black family in slavery and freedom, 1750-1925. Vintage.

Hartmann, A. (2023). Self-Reliance Towards Deep Democracy: Theorizing Racial Embodiment in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. In The Black Humanist Tradition in Anti-Racist Literature: A Fragile Hope (pp. 55–90). Springer.

Knights, D., & Willmott, H. (1985). Power and identity in theory and practice. The Sociological Review, 33(1), 22–46.

Lacković, N. (2020). Thinking with Digital Images in the Post-Truth Era: A Method in Critical Media Literacy. Postdigital Science and Education, 2(2), 442–462. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42438-019-00099-y

Lessa, I. (2006). Discursive struggles within social welfare: Restaging teen motherhood. British Journal of Social Work, 36(2), 283–298.

Lieberson, S., & Mikelson, K. S. (1995). Distinctive African American names: An experimental, historical, and linguistic analysis of innovation. American Sociological Review, 928–946.

Machaba, M. A. (2004). Naming, identity and the African renaisance [sic] in a South African context.

Machsum, T. (2013). Identitas dalam Sastra Pesantren di Jawa Timur. Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan, 19(3), 407–420.

Nassaji, H. (2015). Qualitative and descriptive research: Data type versus data analysis. In Language teaching research (Vol. 19, Issue 2, pp. 129–132). Sage Publications.

Peckham, R. (2009). Identity Anxiety and the Power and Problem of Naming in African American and Jewish American Literature.

Peirce, C. S. (1955). Logic as Semiotic: The Theory of Signs. Philosophical Writings of Peirce, 107–108.

Rivera Maulucci, M. S., & Mensah, F. M. (2015). Naming ourselves and others. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(1), 1–5. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tea.21196

Rymes, B. (1999). Names. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9(1/2), 163–166.

Weber, E. T. (2008). Proper names and persons: Peirce’s semiotic consideration of proper names. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 346–362.

Williams, L. (1992). Playing With Fire. The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/25/magazine/playing-with-fire.html

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.v24i2.7769