Serializing Racial Subjects: The Stagnation and Suspense of the O.J. Simpson Saga

While critiques of racial essentialism have demonstrated decisively that race is rhetorically contingent, institutions of white privilege nevertheless remain distressingly durable. The continuing media coverage of Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson since his 1995 acquittal exemplifies this chro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Quarterly journal of speech Vol. 96; no. 1; pp. 69 - 88
Main Author Foley, Megan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia Taylor & Francis Group 01.02.2010
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Attitudes
Discourse analysis
Media coverage
Perceptions
Race
Rhetoric
Series
Simpson, O J
Subjects
Temporality
Time
Whiteness
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0033-5630
1479-5779
DOI10.1080/00335630903512713

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Summary:While critiques of racial essentialism have demonstrated decisively that race is rhetorically contingent, institutions of white privilege nevertheless remain distressingly durable. The continuing media coverage of Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson since his 1995 acquittal exemplifies this chronic temporality of whiteness discourse. Over time, the Simpson case has become a series that gradually coordinated "black" and "white" collective subjects by stagnating and suspending the popular attachment to Simpson. The serial form eventually unmarked these racialized subject-positions, while retaining the white subject-position as a seemingly race-neutral norm. Serial temporality normalizes whiteness through a circular rhythm that vacillates between the disavowal of and possessive investment in white privilege.
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ISSN:0033-5630
1479-5779
DOI:10.1080/00335630903512713