Browsing by Author "Ms. Cheyma ALLAL"

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    The Politics of Racial Identity: A Critical Race Reading of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half
    (UNIVERSITY OF MOHAMED BOUDIAF- M’SILA, 2025-07-15) Ms. Cheyma ALLAL; & Ms. Amani KHODJA
    Abstract With a focus on racial passing and colorism as expressions of systemic racism, this dissertation examines how racial identity is developed and negotiated in Brit Bennett's 2020 novel The Vanishing Half. By choosing different identities, the characters—especially twin sisters Stella and Desiree Vignes—confront oppressive racial systems. Stella chooses to pass as a white woman and fit in with white society, whereas Desiree embraces her Black identity and maintains ties to her community. Through the seminal works of Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, this Critical Race Theory-based study investigates the ways in which race, identity, and power intersect in the story. Set against the socio-historical backdrop of twentieth-century America, the novel sheds light the psychological and political effects of racial passing, emphasizing how whiteness is linked to privilege and exclusion is associated with whiteness. Racial identity in the novel is dynamic, as the analysis demonstrates. It varies according to the situation, is influenced by people’s actions, and is closely linked to power and politics. In the end, this study hopes to contribute to African American literary criticism by demonstrating how Bennett uses the concept of racial passing to give Black women more control over their lives while also clearly criticizing the ongoing racism in society.