Deconstructing Postracialism

Abstract

Postracialism pervades public discourse and positions race and racism as ancient history with little bearing on contemporary culture. This orientation impedes discourse on race in education, politics, media, and the workplace. As a consequence, postracialism thwarts the articulation of a successful politics of race and prevents movement toward racial justice. This essay identifies racial humor as an important site that might disrupt the impasse created by postracialism. Discussions of race have become labored in public discourse but humor has the capacity to counter the consequences of postracial ideologies. This essay considers the work of Stephen Colbert and his implicit critique of postracialism and Whiteness from the position of a White, male who ostensibly advocates postracialism. Although humor is always subject to varied interpretation, his political satire can be used to affirm progressive race-consciousness, reflect on the influence of racial constructions throughout history, expose White privilege, and refute reactionary White victim narratives. Keywords postracialism, color blindness, humor, Whiteness, Stephen Colbert[T]he very absence of visible signs of discrimination creates an atmosphere of racial neutrality that encourages whites to believe that racism is a thing of the past.Bell, 1992, p. 374 I've developed beyond [seeing race]. I'm so not a racist, I don't see race.

Tensiones entre humor, lenguaje y etnia. Una revisión de estudios académicos sobre humor e interculturalidad

“…Los trabajos de Johnatan Rossing (2012Rossing ( , 2014Rossing ( , 2015 apuntan en la misma dirección. Rossing analiza el humor de humoristas norteamericanos que abordan temáticas raciales desde un punto de vista crítico.…”

“…Volviendo a Rossing, el humor racial crítico desarrollado por humoristas como discurso público es una forma de romper con la inmovilidad del discurso posracial. Más que desatender al humor racial porque puede confirmar ideologías racistas (como lo sugieren los hallazgos de Johnson et al, 2012) o fallar en tratar un tema en su total complejidad, Rossing (2012) sugiere considerar detalladamente el potencial educativo y transformador del humor. No hacerlo contribuye a mantener el silencio en torno a un serio problema social (Rossing, 2012).…”

Emancipatory Racial Humor as Critical Public Pedagogy: Subverting Hegemonic Racism

“…1 On questions of interpretation and inside/outsider humor, see : Friedman, 2014;Rappoport, 2005;Rossing, 2012;Watkins, 1994;Weaver, 2011b. While the interpretive complexities of racial humor and its diverse audiences are not the primary focus of this essay, the following examples offer several representative examples of these tensions.…”

Critical Race Humor in a Postracial Moment: Richard Pryor’s Contemporary Parrhesia

“…Redding's observation characterizes not only Black artists such as Dick Gregory, Chris Rock, or Wanda Sykes, but also artists from a wider range of racial identities; Margaret Cho (Korean American), Russell Peters (Indian-Canadian), and Stephen Colbert (Irish American), for example, powerfully critique and expose racial realities through humor (e.g. Pelle, 2009;Rossing, 2012).…”