Racial Visualization in Literature

Back in college, as an English major, I enrolled in an African-American Literature class. About two weeks into the semester, I experienced a realization. While studying Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, I initially visualized the characters as I would those from my own background. I shared something to this effect with the class, and being the only Caucasian on the roster, I became the subject of a teachable moment: a teachable moment that was integral to my growth as a scholar, a potential writer, and as a human being.

It was then that I learned the first part of the definition of Racial Visualization in Literature.

About two years ago, I shared one of my short stories (which has since become the novel I am currently working on) with my barber at the time, a Latin-American fellow. A noteworthy takeaway he shared with me was that he visualized my main character as African-American. Indeed, I did not intend to portray Duncan Griffiths as such, nor will I do so in the novel’s current and final drafts, but this feedback I continued to ponder on, nonetheless.

This experience also added to what I thought was the definition of Racial Visualization in Literature.

Last summer, while writing the first draft of my novel Arrested Souls, I shared what was originally the prologue with a Facebook writer’s group. The scene involves an event that does occur in the timeline of the novel but will not appear in the final draft; it does not include the main character, Duncan Griffiths, whatsoever. An Asian-American pop star is confronted by her wealthy Saudi suitor, and it does not end well.

One of the first writers to respond to my piece accused me of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation, as defined by dictionary.com, is “the adoption or co-opting, usually without acknowledgment, of cultural identity markers associated with or originating in minority communities by people or communities with a relatively privileged status.” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cultural-appropriation) For those of you who do not know me personally, I am from a privileged, white, middle-class background.

It was then that I began to finally formulate the definition of Racial Visualization in Literature.

Racial Visualization in Literature Defined

Racial Visualization in Literature is how readers interpret characters based on their racial backgrounds, and how writers practice their craft based on this same concept. As a reader, I always inquire as to the cultural background of the author, for this will be wholly evident in the author’s work. Toni Morrison is an African-American author, and all of her works include characters from her culture, unless otherwise described.

As a writer, I also seriously consider, and at times research, the cultural backgrounds of my characters; for to properly illustrate them I need to, indeed, “walk a mile in their shoes.” I always welcome and digest feedback to my work, so all of the experiences adding up to where I am now has shaped me to be, what I hope, a conscientious writer.

If only I knew all of this when I was younger.

Awareness, Perspective, and Education

For virtually all of my English/Language Arts teaching career, I have taught in urban venues. While crafting my lessons, I am consciously aware of the cultures and situations my students bring to the classroom, and continually hope to illustrate understanding along with my knowledge, empathy along with my appropriately shared experiences, awareness along with my instruction of pertinent skills.

Education, being the dynamic concept that it is, intuitively includes and categorizes Racial Visualization in Literature. There are several examples of this on websites, blogs, forums, and, hopefully, professional development curricula. #Disrupt Texts aligns nicely with this thinking.

#Disrupt Texts is a crowdsourced, grass roots effort by teachers for teachers to challenge the traditional canon in order to create a more inclusive, representative, and equitable language arts curriculum that our students deserve. It is part of our mission to aid and develop teachers committed to anti-racist/anti-bias teaching pedagogy and practices. (https://disrupttexts.org/lets-get-to-work/)

Teaching our students, and hopefully anyone who reads this, empathy through literature is a necessary approach to genuine critical thinking. Our society, awash in inordinate amounts of information, must be properly navigated through utilizing relevant English/Language Arts skills. Racial visualization is the first step, and the skills therein must be taught.

The National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) introduces and expounds upon the educational concepts Mirrors and Windows. A Mirror is a story that reflects your own culture and helps you build your identity. A Window is a resource that offers you a view into someone else’s experience. (https://www.weareteachers.com/mirrors-and-windows/#:~:text=The%20phrase%20%E2%80%9Cmirrors%20and%20windows,view%20into%20someone%20else's%20experience). Racial Visualization directly offshoots from, if not is organically involved with, these concepts.

Of course, realizing your own identity must come before visualizing someone else’s. Reading of course achieves this, it also fosters the seeds of proper critical thinking.

The School Library Journal, notes that #OwnVoices, created on Twitter in 2015, seeks to “recommend children’s literature about diverse characters written by authors from that same diverse group.” It appears that Racial Visualization is not an original concept — although it might be the first time a writer coined it in such a way — and has roots in educational movements from the last few years.

Thoughts and Further Steps

While thinking about this concept, and as a writer who is never wholly satisfied with his work, I consider my next steps. Writing and sharing this piece is more than just a presentation of my thoughts. It’s self-analysis; it’s self-contemplation; it’s self-realization. And I hope to spark conversations, debates, and all of your thoughts and feelings on this topic as well, in the hopes that you will become, in some way, enlightened.

Unfortunately, I realize that some of us are not capable — or more to the point, not willing — to take the steps involved to reach true multicultural understanding. What else can we do? We can only open a mind that has a two-way door. This is a concept I also consider while I write my works.

I contend that if we all read literature from the perspectives of people from different races and cultures, appropriate awareness and acceptance might be eventually achieved. As a privileged, white, middle-class writer, making myself and others aware of not only our multicultural society, but of the perspectives of those in said cultures that very well might include our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, our family, is a work-in-progress task for me.