Michael Tillotson’s Agency Reduction Formation theory is designed to expose, situate, and explain ideological trends that are intended to compel African people to distance themselves from their collective identity (Tillotson 2011, 62). Identity provides African people the internal construction to seek self-determination that allows them to strive for agency, the ability to provide the psychological and cultural resources necessary for the advancement of human freedom (Asante 2007, 40-41). In this study, I have added an agential location dimension to the discourse of “identity names” utilizing Afrocentric analysis to interrogate whether those specific “identity names” position African people toward victorious consciousness, an attitude which reflects a commitment to Africana history, values, and culture. In addition to exploring why it is problematic for African people to identify with terms such as “Nigga”, “Bad Bitch”, “Savage” and “Trap Queen” given the controversy sustained by their overuse as racial epithets and radical forms of misnaming, I also address how such “identity words” are aggressive forms of Agency Reduction Formation. To demonstrate how the use of the previously mentioned “identity words” is an agency reducing activity, I analyzed the words and photographs of African men and women featured on the social networking platform Instagram. Through content analysis, I claimed that African people identifying particularly as a “Nigga”, “Bad Bitch”, “Savage” and “Trap Queen” within their profiles and posts create an environment for dis-empowerment, identity dislocation, and internalized oppression. If tendencies to use these “agency reducing identity words” continues in this manner, African people will experience ongoing cultural dislocation that diminishes their “need for a collective agency that fights against oppression.” / African American Studies
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/280 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Paige, Garrison Danielle |
| Contributors | Asante, Molefi Kete, 1942-, Johnson, Amari, Allison, Donnetrice, Mazama, Ama, 1961- |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 791 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/264, Theses and Dissertations |
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