“We Are Our History”: A Critical Reading of Personas in IAm Not Your Negro

Abstract

Based on the noted harms of a post-racial United States, this analysis offers a close reading of the documentary, I Am Not Your Negro (IANYN). The analysis explores how the vernacular, transcendent first persona constructs and speaks to a three-tiered, white second persona: (1) the essentialist or overt racist, (2) the colorblind, and (3) the race cognizant. The analysis is particularly interested in how IANYN works to disrupt the hegemonic prevalence of whiteness and post-racial ideology in light of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.

Keywords:

• Film
• first persona
• second persona
• whiteness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katrina N. Hanna

Katrina N. Hanna (Ph.D. Arizona State University) is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at California State University, Long Beach. She would like to sincerely thank Robert J. Razzante for his support, insights, and early theorizing that helped inform an early version of this paper.