Spatial Practice And Cultural Identity

Based on French socialist theorist Henrie Lefebvre’s space theory and British cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s cultural identity theory as theoretical framework, this thesis analyzes Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon. By analyzing Milkman’s journey from the American North to the American South, from the city to the countryside, especially his different spatial experiences, this thesis exposes the process of Milkman’s decolonization and his forming of African American identity. It suggests that through Milkman’s spatial experience and the process of identification, Morrison expresses that only when African Americans identify with their history and culture and learn how to relate with the black community and the nature, can they become authentic African Americans.This paper is divided into three chapters. Chapter one focuses on the correlation between Milkman’s eggplant identity and the spatial representation of the street and house where his family lives. It suggests that by living in his parents’house in "Not Doctor Street" which embodies the white materialism that his parents believe in, Milkman becomes an African American with black skin and white heart. It proposes that Morrison uses "Not Doctor Street" as a metaphor for Milkman’s eggplant identity.The second chapter centers on the correlation between Milkman’s spatial practices in Morrison’s conceived space of the American South and his discovery and identifying with the collective identity of the African Americans. Based on a detailed analysis of Morrison’s conceived space of the American South as the space of the African American culture and history, this chapter reveals how through his spatial experiences in Pilate’s home in Southside, and especially his spatial experiences in Danville and Virginia, Milkman discovers and identifies with his family history as well as his communal history in the Song of Solomon, confirming Stuart Hall’s idea that identifying with ancestral culture and history serves as a crucial factor in the construction of one’s cultural identity.Chapter three explores the correlation between Milkman’s spatial experiences in the American South and his forming of African American identity. It reveals in the space of nature, Milkman’s belief in money no longer works and a new self is founded in the epiphanic spatiality. It also shows how Milkman understands the influence of the cultural practices of the African Americans in the South, corrects his own cultural practices and assimilates into the African American community, learning to treat others with love and respect.