A Lingual Politic: Power and Resistance in Sacred, Secular, and Subaltern Narratives in an Age of Mass Incarceration

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Decolonial Horizons

Volume 2

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A Lingual Politic: Power and Resistance in Sacred, Secular, and Subaltern Narratives in an Age of Mass Incarceration

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Author(s): Nikia Smith Robert

Publication date (Print): 2016

Journal: Decolonial Horizons

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

This article submits that the confluence of language and power proliferate social strata and exacts violence on subaltern bodies in a punitive age of mass incarceration. I explore racialized social hierarchies in Judeo-Christian sacred texts and its relationship to secular texts that mark subaltern bodies for punishment. I argue that hegemonic scriptural economies perpetuate discursive violence that is evident in the imperial use of jurisprudence to warehouse latina/o bodies in a prison industrial complex. In response, proclamations of protest become the voice of victors to self-name, overcome silence and rewrite histories as authors of subaltern narratives of resistance.

Keywords: Sacred texts, Legal texts, Social regulation, Subalternity, Racism, Narrative of resistance, Punishment, Mass Incarceration.

Este artículo sostiene que la convergencia de lenguaje y poder se multiplica en los estratos sociales y, en una era de encarcelamiento punitivo masivo, ejerce violencia sobre los cuerpos subalternos. Exploro las jerarquías sociales racializadas en los textos sagrados judeo-cristianos y su relación con aquellos textos seculares que marcan los cuerpos subalternos para el castigo. Sostengo que las economías escriturales hegemónicas perpetúan la violencia discursiva que es evidente en el uso imperial de jurisprudencia sobre los cuerpos latinos destinados al depósito en industriales complejos carcelarios. A manera de respuesta, las proclamas de protesta se convierten en voz de vencedores que, como autores de narrativas subalternas de resistencia, nombran en primera persona, superan el silencio y reescriben historias.

Palabras claves: Textos sagrados, Textos jurídicos, Disciplinamiento social, Subalternidad, Racismo, Narrativa de resistencia.

Este artigo sustenta que a convergência de linguagem e poder se multiplica nas camadas sociais e, numa época de encarceramento punitivo maciço, exerce violěncia sobre os corpos subalternos. Exploro as hierarquias sociais raciais nos textos sagrados judaico-cristãos e sua relação com aqueles textos seculares que marcam os corpos subalternos para o castigo. Sustento que as economias escriturais hegemônicas perpetuam a violěncia discursiva que é evidente no uso autoritário de jurispruděncia sobre pessoas latinas destinadas ao depósito em complexos industriais prisionais. Em resposta, proclamações de protesto tornam-se a voz de vencedores que, como autores de narrativas subalternas de resistěncia, superam o silěncio e reescrevem histórias.

Palavras-chave: Textos sagrados, Textos jurídicos, Disciplinamento social, Subalternidade, Racismo, Narrativa de resistěncia.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Nikia Smith Robert

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): decohori

Title: Decolonial Horizons

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Electronic): 24226343

Publication date (Print): 2016

Volume: 2

Pages: 163-201

Affiliations

Claremont School of Theology

Article

Publisher ID: decohori.2.0163

DOI: 10.13169/decohori.2.0163

SO-VID: b9faad8e-fb3a-4bf0-b111-7dc3bff18373

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History

Bibliographic references

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Alexander, Michelle (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York, NY: New Press.

[2] Arboleda, Teja (1998). In the Shadow of Race: Growing Up as a Multiethnic, Multicultural, and “Multiracial” American . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

[3] Blow, Charles M. (2012). «The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin.» The New York Times , March 16. Available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/opinion/blow-the-curious-case-of-trayvon-martin.html> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[4] Bouie, Jamelle (2014). «Michael Brown Wasn't a Superhuman Demon: But Darren Wilson's Racial Prejudice Told Him Otherwise». Slate , November 26. Available at: <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/11/darren_wilson_s_racial_portrayal_of_michael_brown_as_a_superhuman_demon.html> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[5] Bourdieu, Pierre (1991). Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[6] Córdova Quero, Hugo (2015). «Coming of Age: A (Post)Colonial and Queer Contribution Towards the Deconstruction of the Notion of ‘Minority’». Perspectivas Internacionales. Revista de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales 10, N° 2 (August 2014 - January 2015): pp. 123–152.

[7] Davey, Monica and Frances Robles (2014). «Darren Wilson Was Low-Profile Officer With Unsettled Early Days.» The New York Times , August 24. Available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/us/darren-wilsons-unremarkable-past-offers-few-clues-into-ferguson-shooting.html> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[8] De Certeau, Michel (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

[9] DuBois, William Edward Burghardt (1903). The Souls of Black Folk . London: Penguin.

[10] Felder, Cain Hope, ed. (1991). Stony The Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

[11] Foucault, Michel (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language , translated by Alan Sheridan. New York, NY: Pantheon.

[12] Foucault, Michel (1982). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison , translated by Alan Sheridan. London: Penguin.

[13] Gramsci, Antonio (1971). Selections From The Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. edited and translated by Quinton Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. New York, NY: International Publishers.

[14] Harvey, Paul (2003) «'A Servant of Servants Shall He Be': The Construction of Race in American Religious Mythologies». In: Religion and the Creation of Race and Ethnicity: An Introduction , edited by Craig R. Prentiss. New York, NY: New York University Press, pp. 13–27.

[15] Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1956 [1837]). The Philosophy of History , translated by J. Sibree. New York, NY: Dover.

[16] Kant, Immanuel (2013 [1784]). An Answer to the Question: ‘What is Enlightenment?’ , translated by B. B. Nisbet. London: Penguin.

[17] Kelley, Shawn (2002). Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship . London: Routledge.

[18] Kerby, Sophia (2012). «The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States: A Look at the Racial Disparities Inherent in Our Nation's Criminal-Justice System». Center for American Progress , March 13. Available at: <https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[19] Kidd, Colin (2006). The Forging of Races: Race and Scriptures in The Protestant Atlantic World . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[20] Lewis, Lionel Stanley (2000). When Power Corrupts: Academic Governing Boards in the Shadow of the Adelphi Case . New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

[21] Lovett, Ian (2012). «Pasadena Police Arrest 911 Caller After Unarmed Suspect Is Killed.» The New York Times , March 29. Available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/us/after-police-shooting-of-pasadena-student-911-caller-arrested.html> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[22] Masuzawa, Tomoko (2012). The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

[23] Mignolo, Walter D. (2007). «DELINKING: The Rhetoric of Modernity, the Logic of Coloniality and the Grammar of De-coloniality». Cultural Studies 21, N° 2: pp. 449–514.

[24] Mueller, Benjamin (2014). «Outcome of Eric Garner Case Bares a Staten Island Divide». The New York Times , December 4. Available at: <http://nyti.ms/1yYNWRt> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[25] Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (2010 [1895]). The Antichrist . Waiheke Island: Floating Press.

[26] Padilla, Steve (2012). «New Stand-your-ground Case? Not for Florida Woman Given 20 Years.» Los Angeles Times, May 12. Available at: <http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/12/nation/la-na-nn-florida-warning-shot-0120511> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[27] Powers Jr., Bernard E. (1994). Black Charlestonians: A Social History, 1822-1885. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press.

[28] Saddiqui, Sabrina (2014). «Darren Wilson Testimony: Michael Brown Looked Like ‘A Demon’.» Huffington Post , November 25. Available at: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/25/darren-wilson-testimony_n_6216620.html> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[29] Saffire, William (1988). «On Language; People of Color.» The New York Times , November 20. Available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/20/magazine/on-language-people-of-color.html> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[30] Sharfstein, Daniel J. (2007). «Crossing the Color Line: Racial Migration and the One-Drop Rule, 1600–1860.» Minnesota Law Review 91, N° 3: pp.592–656.

[31] Spivak. Gayatri Chakravorty (1988). «Can The Subaltern Speak?» In: Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory , edited by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, pp. 66–111.

[32] Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (2005). «Scattered Speculations on the Subaltern and the Popular.» Postcolonial Studies 8, N° 4: pp. 475–486.

[33] The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2015). «Black». Available at: <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[34] The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2015). «White.» Available at: <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[35] Townes, Emily (2010). «Vanishing Into Limbo. Part II: Black Men as Endangered Species… Not». In: Walk Together Children: Black and Womanist Theologies, Church, and Theological Education , edited by Dwight N. Hopkins and Linda E. Thomas. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, pp. 84–103.

[36] Uggen, Christopher, Sarah Shannon, and Jeff Manza (2012). State-Level Estimates of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States, 2010. Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project.

[37] United States Supreme Court (1985). Tennessee v. Garner. Available at: <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=471&invol=1> [Accessed October 15, 2015].

[38] Walmsley, Roy (2011). World Prison Population List . London: International Center for Prison Studies, University of Essex.

Decolonial Horizons

A Lingual Politic: Power and Resistance in Sacred, Secular, and Subaltern Narratives in an Age of Mass Incarceration

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