Analysis Of Ethnic Studies By W. E. B. De Bois

Ethnic studies began in America in the late 19th century with African-American studies, specifically the works of W.E.B de Bois. De Bois’s writings dealt with the creation of concept of the “other” through difference, or creating identity by identifying what separates one group from another, which influences social norms. These two groups cannot reconcile with each other, and one must necessarily have power over the other; in the case of the American context De Bois is writing in, this means that white Americans wield power over black Americans. For the oppressed group, this creates a duality of existence between being a participant in a culture created by the dominant group and simultaneously being excluded from the experience of that group.

Based on this new understanding of race, theorists seek to de-essentialism the idea of race, or basically, to separate the idea that racial stereotypes and characteristics are necessary to the African-American identity. Additionally, the theory encompasses “Afrocentrism,” or the idea that African influences are essential to the creation of Western and European culture. Ethnic studies also includes the work of Henry Louis Gates, a theorist who believed that literary theory thus far comprised of methods too Eurocentric to be compatible with the African-American culture and oral tradition. Instead, theoretical methods studying African-American literature should consider the specific symbols of that culture, which includes a new definition of Signifier which differs from post-structuralist signification: Signifiers self-consciously and rhetorically become the signified which they are meant to represent through the performance of language. This facet of the theory seeks to examine texts not as reflections of a culture, but as examinations meant to reveal underlying structures about reality for minority communities. This examination of previous theory also includes a critique of Feminist theory, which ignores the role that race plays in gender discrimination. Ethnic Studies also encompasses Native American and Mexican studies, which include the above emphasis on race and the “other” in addition to analysis of the role of place and occupation, which breaks down the binary status of oppressed and oppressor to consider more intersectional identities. Ethnic Studies seems to be entirely about the experience of racial groups in the American context, which makes it difficult to determine how the theory should be applied to ethnic groups in different countries with different cultures