Invisibility and Blue Eyes: African-American Subjectivity

Abstract

In this essay I theorize the relationship between African-American subjectivity and American identity. I suggest that American fiction and American culture are framed by the invisibility of African-American subject. Specifically I elaborate upon a theory of African-American subjectivity and I use Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye to frame my inquiry into African-American subjectivity Ellison and Morrison effectively dramatize the “invisible” nature of African-American subjectivity, and this is their philosophical contribution: they articulate a post-empiricist and post-positivist account of African-American subjectivity