《莱尼大妈的黑臀舞》中的消费行为与身份建构

Consuming Behavior and Identity Construction in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

美国非裔戏剧家奥古斯特·威尔·逊在《莱尼大妈的黑臀舞》中将非裔美国人的消费行为作为其追求自我认同和主体建构的能动表现。本文从消费行为与身份认同的角度探讨非裔美国人的身份建构过程,分析剧中人物的消费内容选择和消费行为差异所表现的身份诉求及身份建构策略。本文认为,基于消费实践而建构的身份是不可靠的,在20世纪20年代的美国社会,黑人音乐家被商业化,消费行为无法帮助他们最终跨越种族歧视障碍,实现主体建构。

In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, African American playwright August Wilson expresses African Americans’ quest for self-identity and subjectivity construction through the consuming behaviors of the major characters. From the perspective of consumption and identity, this article discusses the processes of identity constructions of African Americans, and analyzes the various identity construction strategies reflected by the consuming behaviors of the characters and the contents of consumption. This article holds that the attempt of constructing identity through consuming behavior ultimately resulted in vain. In the 1920s’ American society, black musicians themselves have been commercialized, so they could not cross the barrier of racial discrimination and achieve the subjective construction through consumption.