{"id":128,"date":"2008-06-13T15:40:11","date_gmt":"2008-06-13T20:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/?p=128"},"modified":"2008-06-13T15:40:11","modified_gmt":"2008-06-13T20:40:11","slug":"staging-the-n-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/?p=128","title":{"rendered":"Staging the N-word"},"content":{"rendered":"

I received some insightful and referenced comments from the dramaturgs on the LMDA listserv concerning the use of the N-word on stage and the struggle of our current production to present it. But interesting how even within the context of a discussion of the word itself, there seems to be a taboo against typing the full six-lettered word nigger<\/em> onto the digital page, as if not only any utterance, but also any \u00e2\u20ac\u0153publication\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em>of the word would easily transcend the intent of the writer.<\/p>\n

One dramaturg references a scholarly study, Randall Kennedy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word<\/em>, abstracting a quote that highlights the power of the word and points to why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an apt candidate for presentation and study through theatre or other modes of public discourse.<\/p>\n

To be ignorant of its meanings and effects is to make oneself vulnerable to all manner of perils, including the loss of a job, a reputation, a friend, even one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I recently read a related short but insightful blog post referencing an e-mail exchange between cultural critic Greil Marcus and art journalist John Rockwell that provides additional insight to a zeitgeist that seems centered on the parsing of words.<\/p>\n

Words, the Arts and the World<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Months back Hillary Clinton (or was it Bill, or another primary candidate?) attacked Barack Obama as a mere purveyor of words. Obama (borrowing, it turned out, from his friend Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts) responded that words do count, words mean something important. Without too great a stretch, I want to extrapolate that idea to arts journalism, and the need for same.<\/p>\n

Recently I had an e-mail exchange with Greil Marcus, who was editing an entry on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Porgy and Bess\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that I had written for a Harvard anthology. The last issue to be considered between us was whether in one sentence \u00e2\u20ac\u0153African-Americans\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blacks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d worked better.<\/p>\n

I finally decided I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much care, ending with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s move on to curing cancer, solving world peace, electing Obama and like that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Greil replied: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you realize that the right choice between \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blacks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153African-Americans, whatever it is, is the SAME THING as curing cancer, solving world peace, and electing Obama? Where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your sense of proportion?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Point taken. Words do matter. Even the words, the futile scribblings, of arts critics. Take away words, take away critical commentary on the arts, and the arts lose something crucial to their creation and, especially, their reception. So think of that the next time you set out to solve world peace, arrogantly indifferent to mere words, or the arts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Crossposted at International Culture Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received some insightful and referenced comments from the dramaturgs on the LMDA listserv concerning the use of the N-word on stage and the struggle of our current production to present it. But interesting how even within the context of a discussion of the word itself, there seems to be a taboo against typing the full six-lettered word nigger onto the digital page, as if not only any utterance, but also any \u00e2\u20ac\u0153publication\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the word would easily transcend the…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dramaturgy","category-theatre-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}