Unheard voices of black men: analyzing black men‘s issue of intersectionality and microaggression in The Son of Mr. Suleman, The Good House, and Riot Baby

Abstract

The objective of the thesis is to expand the understanding of the theory of intersectionality and microaggression by addressing the issues of intersectionality and microaggression concerning African American men, Mr. Pi, Corey, and Kev from The Son of Mr. Suleman, The Good House, and Riot Baby to investigate how the intersection of race, gender, sex, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, profession, and political standpoint generate injustice, violence, and discrimination against them by Whites and even Blacks. The thesis also examines the motivation of the offenders and the counter-reaction of Mr. Pi, Corey, and Kev against microaggression. The Son of Mr. Suleman by Eric Jerome Dickey is a contemporary romance fiction that profoundly emphasizes reverse sexism and the vulnerabilities of Mr. Pi caused by Whites and Black women. The Good House by Tananarive Due belongs to horror fiction that sheds light on Corey who becomes the victim of racial segregation and manipulation of a white spirit who uses Black/White dichotomy to accomplish revenge. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi is a speculative fiction that entails the horrific story of Kev whose life is entrapped by an unfair criminal justice system. The theory of ―Intersectionality‖ focuses on the minor group of people who experience complex social inequalities and violence by the dominant group due to their overlapping social identities. While borrowing the core idea of intersectionality from the existing resources, it has been found that the theorization solely emphasizes the vulnerabilities of Black women mostly by Crenshaw (1989, 1991, 2010, 2013), MacKinnon (2013), Collins (2015), even though the intersectional scholars (Nash 2008, Crenshaw 2017) state the theory has room to expand. Hence, it is high time to shift the focus from Black women to African American men's issues of intersectionality. Additionally, even in the era of post-racism, racial hatred persists in more subtle forms through microaggression. From the existing resources, it has been observed that insufficient scholarly attention has been given to discussing microaggression concerning African American men from literary contexts. To accomplish the research, the theory of intersectionality and microaggression has been used as the core frameworks and oppression olympic, some of the Fanonian and Foucauldian ideas have been used as supporting frameworks for critical analysis.