Racial Hegemony in Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me

Abstract

This research paper explores the issue of the suppression, exclusion, and struggle of Afro-American people in America. It presents the condition of Afro- American people in the contemporary Baltimore society where they were dominated in terms of their skin color. It investigates how the American white elitist consistently denied the humanity of blacks in order to maintain their superiority in the society. Social, political power and position as well as religious norms and values imposed by the white people are the cause to marginalized black communities in America. To illustrate these things, this research takes upon the narration of the incidents faced by Ta-Nehisi Coates as a victim. In addition, to clarify white elite's supremacy, construction of classand race, the researcher draws a concept from subaltern theorists such as Antonio Gramsci, Homi K. Bhabha, Gyatry Chakravorty Spivak, and so on. By analyzing the oppression of subaltern voice and racial hegemony, this research presents that the root cause of racism is political and cultural hegemony rather than fatalistic concerns as represented in the memoir. Therefore, it gives a message to black people for resistance in order to rectify the subtle forms of hegemony imposed on such subaltern groups of people in the society. Key Words: Racial hegemony, Superiority, Bitter struggle, Suppression, Political power