Autoethnography In Wideman Robby, And Wideman

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Recommended: Racial profiling and the criminal justice system

Abused and Overlooked

We’ve seen the word autoethnography in Pratt’s essay. We’ve also seen an example of how it relates to Mexican cultures and languages in Anzaldula’s essay. But what does the word really mean to us? How does the word relate to us? Our people? How do we relate to it? I am an African American and Wideman gives a good example of how it relates to African Americans. More specifically, he focuses on African American men in so-called “ghetto” neighborhoods. However not all African American men in these areas fit this stereotype. Wideman explains how these men can be overlooked as human beings and shouldn’t be instantly categorized under the typical stereotype. He shows an example of these people being targeted, stereotyped, and marginalized in an Essay titled “Our Time.”

Pratt defines autoethnography as people describing themselves in a way that engages with representations others have made of them. (319) However, examples of this vary in many ways. In …show more content…

More of this bad treatment is brought to our attention when the writer talks about his visit to see his brother. His brother describes how things were in the prison. “Grown men treated like children by other grown men. Inmates yanked out of line and punished because a button is undone or hair uncombed.” (439) This was just an example of how they treated these men all the time in prison. Robby was even told by guards that they would get him next and he would soon join his friends in the hole. A man named Leon Patterson became another victim of these guards. The man appeared to be having an asthma attack. Him and the rest of the men tried to get the attention of the guards for help but the crude guards came to help after an hour later. Sadly the man was pronounced dead at the jail. These men are just few of the many African American who get this type of abusive treatment

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