[xmca] Culture of Poverty, read all about it.

[Gregory Allan Thompson <gathomps@uchicago.edu>]

I recently re-discovered the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee, as well as what was something of a follow-up to this (with hyper-academified language), Kathleen Stewart's A Space on The Side of the Road. Both are interesting contemplations of poverty in Appalachia (and Agee's prose is breathtaking - notwithstanding the topic).

Interestingly both of these pieces show an intense deference to the poor (whites) that they study, and both challenge any simple narrative about these folks - even to the point of questioning the act of trying to make sense of their situation.

Curiously, studies of black folk never seem to have had this difficulty. 

Studies of black folk seem to have little difficulty with at least venturing a guess at explaining why the black man is in the situation he is in (and, as with Tally's corner, there is a particular fascination with black men - and this seems to carry through to the piece in the Annals that is commented upon in the article forwarded by Mike). 

Regardless of the narrative chosen (whether structure or culture), the black man's behavior is determinable and determined. The black man is a subject of social forces - whether culture or social structure - in a way that is rather consonant with old tales of "the Negro" told by the likes of Robert Park, co-founder of U of Chicago's famous school of Sociology, who once referred the "Negro race" as "the lady among the races", this because "the Negro" was prone to expression rather than action.

In a commentary on an earlier version of the CoP debate, in his critique of Gunnar Mrydal's An American Dilemma, Ralph Ellison comments:
"But can a people (its faith in an idealized American Creed not-withstanding) live and develop for over three hundred years simply by reacting? Are American Negroes simply the creation of white men, or have they at least helped to create themselves out of what they found around them? Men have made a way of life in caves and upon cliffs; why cannot Negroes have made a life upon the horns of the white man’s dilemma?"

This still stands as one of the most compelling critiques of both sides of the CoP debates (and possibly this was Andy's point - although I think I'm past his 1 screen limit!).

Ellison's entire critique can be found at:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=554


All of this makes me wonder if the "culture of poverty" theories today should really be called "culture of Black poverty" theories. The language today is so heavily laden with race (culture of poverty = hip-hop infused culture) that it is hard to imagine that the poor white folk in Appalachia are even on the minds of the folks who are arguing these theories. 

-greg


>Message: 1
>Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 12:40:43 -0800
>From: mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
>Subject: [xmca] Culture of Poverty, read all about it.
>To: "eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>Message-ID:
>	<AANLkTimin5UY_JzBqgj02g5xro38CAF5cHAYQ92uu02w@mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>Re this topic -- while reading orasanu, boykin, mcdermott......
>
>http://www.bostonreview.net/BR36.1/steinberg.php
>
>

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