Stereotypes and the Social Construction of Race
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Bald’s piece on the Bengali peddlers highlights an interesting phenomenon wherein stereotypes serve to construct race in a way that is digestible to the White. The peddlers’ ability to shuttle between the ‘Indianness they performed for their customers’ (Bald, 53) and the ‘Blackness they shared with New Orleans’ populations of African descent’ (Bald, 53) draws attention to an overarching theme of race as a performance– if one is able to ‘perform’ race as need be, what is the fabric on which race as a social phenomenon is constructed? If the reinforcement of stereotypes can facilitate social mobility for minorities, should they prioritise said social mobility at the risk of giving up their identity?. As illustrated by Riz Ahmed's line in the Swet Shop Boys’ ‘Batalvi’,“Tryna stretch culture, stuck in a silhouette”, the experiences of a person of colour always exist within the larger context of their perception by the majority. This then ties into the question on what it takes to make home in a whitened space. Must people of colour compromise to call a space home?