Research Article
Colorism and Identity Formation in African American Literature
Kodjo Adaha*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
43-47
Received:
31 March 2026
Accepted:
11 April 2026
Published:
11 May 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijla.20261403.11
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Abstract: This article examines the role of colorism in shaping identity formation in African American literature, with particular attention to the works of Nella Larsen, Delores Phillips, and Brit Bennett. While racism has been widely studied, colorism, defined as intra-racial discrimination based on skin tone, remains an underexplored yet deeply influential social and psychological phenomenon. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, cultural studies, and theories of identity construction, this study analyzes how literary narratives represent the complex interplay between social hierarchies, family dynamics, and personal identity. Through a close reading of Passing, The Darkest Child, and The Vanishing Half, the article highlights how characters negotiate their identities within systems structured by both racial and intra-racial inequalities. The analysis reveals that colorism operates as both a structural and internalized system, shaping access to social mobility while producing psychological fragmentation, insecurity, and tensions in belonging. The phenomenon of racial passing further illustrates the paradox of identity, where proximity to whiteness provides privilege but often results in alienation and loss of self. By foregrounding literary representations of colorism, this study contributes to broader debates on race, identity, and cultural representation in African American and diasporic contexts. It argues that African American literature not only reflects the realities of color-based hierarchies but also critically interrogates the processes through which identity is constructed, negotiated, and transformed.
Abstract: This article examines the role of colorism in shaping identity formation in African American literature, with particular attention to the works of Nella Larsen, Delores Phillips, and Brit Bennett. While racism has been widely studied, colorism, defined as intra-racial discrimination based on skin tone, remains an underexplored yet deeply influentia...
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Research Article
Towards the Canonization of Cameroonian Pop:
A Geocritical Appreciation of Selected Cameroonian Pop Songs
Tatang Banda*,
Adamu Pangmeshi,
Gilda Forbang Looh
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
48-57
Received:
20 April 2026
Accepted:
30 April 2026
Published:
18 May 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijla.20261403.12
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Views:
Abstract: This paper examines the conditions under which selected Cameroonian pop songs may be read as candidates for cultural canonization within postcolonial African music studies. While Cameroonian popular music circulates widely across local and diasporic spaces, it remains under-theorized as a corpus capable of generating enduring aesthetic, ideological, and historical value. The paper addresses this gap by interrogating how certain pop songs function not merely as entertainment, but as cultural texts that crystallize collective memory, gendered subjectivities, and glocal negotiations of identity. Through a comparative reading of “Crying for Salvation” by Afo Akom, “Ça Va Aller” by Salatiel, “Jongde Ma” by Tao, and “Esingan” by les Têtes Brûlées, the study hypothesizes that songs become canonizable when they successfully mediate between global musical idioms and localized cultural codes while engaging urgent socio-political concerns. In order to examine Cameroonian pop songs as geocritical texts capable of contributing to cultural canonization through spatial and narrative analysis; Cameroonian pop songs function as geocritical texts that construct complex spatial, temporal, and cultural meanings through intertextuality, referentiality, and multisensory representation, thereby justifying their inclusion within an expanded African cultural canon. Leaning primarily on geocriticism, the article reads these works as cultural artifacts embedded in the socio-political conditions of postcolonial Cameroon and its diasporic extensions. Through close lyrical analysis, sonic interpretation, and attention to performance and reception contexts, the study argues that canonization in Cameroonian pop emerges at the intersection of aesthetic innovation, historical resonance, and transnational circulation. Ultimately, the paper proposes a framework for understanding how popular music participates in shaping national memory and diasporic belonging. These songs are selected because they span different historical moments—linguistic registers and stylistic orientations—ranging from bikutsi, folklore-inflected performance to contemporary Afro-pop, yet converge in their thematic engagement with moral responsibility, resilience, gender construction, and communal continuity.
Abstract: This paper examines the conditions under which selected Cameroonian pop songs may be read as candidates for cultural canonization within postcolonial African music studies. While Cameroonian popular music circulates widely across local and diasporic spaces, it remains under-theorized as a corpus capable of generating enduring aesthetic, ideological...
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