Un-examined lives: Standpoint and manifesto in the autobiographies of four African-American journalists (Jake Lamar, Jill Nelson, Nathan McCall, Patricia Raybon).

摘要

This study examines, through narrative and thematic analysis, selected autobiographies written by African American journalists in order to uncover a synergistic relationship between the categories of race, class, gender, and journalism.; Among the theories about autobiography that inform the study, include the concept of the autobiographical manifesto as defined by Sidonie Smith. The autobiographical manifesto characteristics also provide the basis for the procedures used in data collection.; Moreover, theories of newsroom culture will also inform the study. Examining the ways journalists are socialized into the newsroom community contextualizes the experiences described by the African American journalists whose autobiographies are discussed.; The problem to be examined concerns how the autobiographies written by African American journalists function in the public sphere. The study examines what African American autobiographers who have been journalists tell us about how the newsroom operates. The following questions guide the discussion: (1) How do the autobiographies of African American journalists function as mass media documents in the public sphere, and how do these autobiographies reflect a relationship between categories of race, class, gender, and journalism? (2) What do the autobiographical writings of black journalists tell us about the "black experience" vis-a-vis the journalism experience?; The study finds that the autobiographies function as manifestos in the public and counter-public spheres and examines how the autobiographical manifesto qualities are extant in each of the texts.; In the end, the study finds that four themes are common to each of the texts: (1) "The Sin of Being Less-than-Perfect," (2) The "Awarding" of Objectivity, (3) The devaluation of the African American Viewpoint, (4) The Castration of the self/Fitting in vs. "Selling Out."; In conclusion, I suggest that the interactions between the categories of race, class, gender, and journalism in autobiographies written by African American journalists constitute something more than mere life stories. They are quasi-political documents that challenge the status quo in journalism by illuminating its practice through lived experience.