Setting Aside the “Wise Latina?”: Postracial Myths, Paradoxes, and Performing Enculturation in the Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings

Abstract

Discourses of “postracialism” surfaced after the 2008 election and continue to percolate in public discussion. Yet, whiteness discourses persist in reifying centered and marginalized positions in American society through the prism of race. Through critical rhetorical analysis, this essay examines the confirmation hearings of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to argue that while celebrated for her achievements, Sotomayor is directed to “set aside” her Latina heritage. Consequently, she performs her own enculturation into the court, a stark contrast to her previous statements regarding the role of race on the bench. We offer the concepts of performative enculturation and joint improvisation as how Sotomayor utilized her hybridized identity to be confirmed.

Keywords:

• Enculturation
• Postracial
• Sonia Sotomayor
• Supreme Court
• Whiteness

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ryan Finnegan for his assistance in the earliest drafts of this essay, as well as the anonymous reviewers who assisted in its development.

Notes

All quotations from the hearings come from transcripts provided by the Los Angeles Times (Malcolm, 2009). For ease of reading, we have limited the citation to the first instance. The link provided connects to all instances of the transcribed hearings.

While a comparison between the Sotomayor hearings and previous hearings could be fruitful, it is beyond the scope of this essay. Parry-Giles (2006) invites consideration of nominations in their context and era, which speak to the surrounding ideologies that affect the process. A comparative analysis would not address the “postracial” temporal context.

The term “non-white” is certainly problematic and is not used here uncritically. We use the term to display the senators’ discourse dichotomizes “white”/whiteness as the majority and excludes those others (including Sotomayor) as nonmembers or “non-white.” Also, we follow other critical scholars’ use of the term as a discursive construction of race (Alley-Young, 2008; Crenshaw, 1997; Hughey, 2010; Lacy, 2008, 2010; Shome, 2000; Trucios-Haynes, 2001).

The Ricci v. DeStefano case deals with issues of race and whiteness. In the case, a number of firefighters were given an exam for promotion. Of the group, all white firefighters and one Hispanic firefighter passed while none of the black firefighters passed. The trial determined whether the test violated the civil rights of the black employees. Sotomayor ruled in favor of invalidating the test results, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aaron Hess

Aaron Hess (PhD, Arizona State University) is an Assistant Professor of Communication in the School of Letters and Sciences at Arizona State University, Downtown Phoenix.

Miriam Sobre-Denton

Miriam Sobre-Denton (PhD, Arizona State University) is an Assistant Professor of Communication in the Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.