Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston

I was first introduced to the works of Zora Neale Hurston in my “Anthropology of Black America” course by Professor Jacqueline Nassy Brown. Throughout both this course and the “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology,” I had read many novels and ethnographies by male authors such as W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Although the works were powerful in theory and message, it was obvious that anthropology was a male dominated profession. Zora Neale Hurston was the first African American women anthropologist that I had read works from, additionally, she was also the author of the first set of works that truly spoke to me and made me want to minor in cultural anthropology. Unlike the work from her colleagues, Hurston did not work to explain the experience of her people but rather show it. Hurston wrote in the dialect of her hometown, Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville was the first all-black governed city in the United States. Professor Brown explained that Hurston had a hard time getting her book published due to this decision to write in her native dialect. This was because due to the inequalities in the access to education, the population of publishers and readers were mainly white. Secondly, African American scholars during the Harlem Renaissance believed Hurston writing in the dialect highlighted African American’s illiteracy.  Despite this, Hurston believed if she was going to share the stories and culture of her people, it should be written in the dialect for which they spoke. Hurston’s insistence on writing with a dialect allowed for me to truly understand the importance of cultural anthropologist, for they document the human experience. Hurston intersectionality as an African American women who also identified as lesbian was reflected in her work, especially in her work Their Eyes Were Watching God. The protagonist, Janie, is a product of generations of rape without justice. She was a character that was forced into three marriages of abuse and men that tried to suppress her voice and make her submissive as a result of patriarchal expectations of women.  Bell Hooks explains patriarchy as, “a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with right to dominate and rule over the weak to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence” (18). She speaks for women liberation and independence. Janie never folded, she never accepted the roles placed upon her, she led with her dreams.  She allowed for a diverse array of representation of women thought and expression, including those who accept their role in patriarchy due to “a collective denial about its [patriarchy] impact on our lives” (Bell Hooks 24). Overall, she demanded her literal voice to be heard. Her work offers an insight on African American communities and culture, such as Hoodoo practices and potlucks, as well as explaining the tribulations and experiences of African American women. Through her character of Nanny (A runaway slave, grandmother to Janie, who use to be consistently raped by her slaveholder), Hurston writes, “the white man dumps his load on the black man to carry and the black man dumps his load on the black women to carry” (29). An additional work I would recommend by Zora Neale Hurston is Mules and Men. This ethnography documents African American folklore, works that express how African Americans created art despite their forced enslavement. This work allowed me to understand the strength and resilience of those who experienced slavery and offered insight on their traditions, experiences, and morals. 

-Hooks, Bell. The will to change: men, masculinity, and love.

-Hurston, Zora Neale. Mules and Men.

-Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God.