Ethnic Absolutism, Civilizationism, and Planetary Humanism: Troubling Black-Slavery, De-humanization/(Self) Dis-placement, and Cross-Cultural Existence in James

Abstract

The paper positions Percival Everett’s James within Paul Gilroy’s theoretical inquiry to interrogate the lineage-locked system of racial segregation and (self) dis-placement. Through the interlocking mechanisms of racial and ethnic absolutism and civilizationism, James elucidates the brutal regimes of racism, slavery, and subjugation, scrutinizing the violent extraction of Negroes and the civilizational binaries. Jim, Young George, Kathie, and Sammy endure the prolonged legacy of racialized enslavement that sustains with blood and systemic brutalization of the enslaved. The white master, Hopkins, rapes Kathie, Henderson ravishes Sammy every night, who dies during escape, while Young George is scourged to death for stealing a pencil, demystifying the systemic brutalization of black slaves in South America. The protagonist, Jim, suffers from racial segregation, de-humanization, and oppression inherited at birth, which induce dis-placement, racial ostracism, and stripping of humanity. Jim betrays the civilizational ideologies of the White; he rebelliously writes, reads, finds his hiding place a safe habitat, and (re)names himself. The act of “civilizational betrayal[1]” paves the way for self-(dis)placemt, identity (re)formation, and the transformation of the protagonist from Jim to James[2]. James’ self-(dis)placement stimulates his cross-cultural existence with Huck/Huckleberry, emphasizing the co-existence of black and white ethnicities, cultures, and races. The cross-cultural existence of Huck/Huckleberry and Jim/James manifests convivial existence, living with shared vulnerabilities, and planetary humanism. In James, ethnic absolutism and civilizationism formulate a perpetuated cycle of coercive enforcement of a segregationist racial regime, transitioning from racial slavery to (self) dis-placement, and planetary humanism dismantles racially absolute existence, fortifying cross-cultural existence. The paper aims to dislodge the racial assumption that whites are ethnically, civilizationally, and racially superior, and blacks are inferior, de-institutionalizing legally enforced slavery and ethnically absolute segregation.