Key terms Flashcards
(13 cards)
Realism
Refers to literature (and art more broadly) that endeavours to represent its subject matter in as true to life a fashion as possible
Naturalism
As a literary movement refers to a period between 1865 and the early 1900s
Offers a return to realism, aiming towards an objective examination of human behaviour and the power of external forces over human decisions
In literature, the French writer Emile Zola is credited with pioneering the genre
Satire
A term that described art which uses humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose or criticises immorality or foolishness
It is particularly used as a form of social or politcal commentary
Hegemonic
A term denoting the dominance of a group over another, often supported by cultural norms, ideas or political or economic control
American dream
A culutral concept about the ability for any person, form whatever background to strive for prosperity, equality and contentment in America
Manifest destiny
The political and cultural belief that the US had a divine obligation ot expand its borders to the Western territories
Social mobility
A term describing a person or group’s ability to move to a different social class and hierarchy
Reconstruction
This refers to period between 1865-77 when after the civil war attempts were made to address teh political, social and economic legacy of slavery as well as reintergration of Southern stated who had seceded
Abolition
In the period under study, this refers to the movement to abolish slavery in the United States
Abolitionists in the US tended to draw from two camps, Black men and women who had fled enslavement and white, religious american citzens
Jim crow
Term derived form blackface minstrelsy and was used as a racial epithet for black people in the US
Term used to describe the laws and customs that were instituted to maintain the oppression of black people after the abolition of slavery
Miscegentation
The mixing of races but, specifically sexual intercourse and marriage between the races
Often when discussing it the implication of interracial mixing resulting in the bearing of children
Colourism
Refers to discrimination on the basis of skin colour, generating certain privileges for lighter skinned people of colour owing to their visual proximity to whiteness
Widely attributed to Alice Walker’s 1983 text in search of our mothers gardens
Passing
The social practice of a member from one group presenting as another
In an American context this most frequently relates to the racial passing of light skinned or mixed race blakc people presenting as white
