English Professor Martin Favor told 13 students it is difficult to define "black culture," in a discussion last night in Casque and Gauntlet senior society's library.
Favor spoke for a large portion of the discussion, which was sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Alpha Phi Alpha is a historically black fraternity.
Favor, who also teaches African-American studies courses, said "I'm increasingly dubious about there being such a thing" as black culture.
"It's nice to pin down 'What is black culture,'" Favor said. "But if we pin it down, are we putting a dagger in its heart?"
Favor said the issue of black culture is more complex than the name indicates.
"Who is black anyway?" he said. "There's a big variation within a race of how people look ... We can't go to biology and we can't go to color."
Favor questioned the merit of defining a single culture for African-Americans.
"Is black culture the same in New York as it is in Philadelphia ... as it is in Seattle?" Favor asked. "Are we glossing things over?"
"Is being from the inner city more black than living in the suburbs?" he said.
Favor examined the general notion of culture and its limitations.
"Culture has to be something that's learned," he said. "You have to learn ways of behavior, customs, traditions ... Culture is not instinct, not inherent."
For this reason, he said nationality and race are poor indicators of belonging to a certain culture.
"If someone who is white learns black culture, what makes that black culture?" Favor asked.
Black culture as defined by popular icons can misrepresent the race as a whole, he said.
"Think about [rap artist] TuPac's new album. Is he cashing in on a certain criminality?" Favor asked. "Now that he's done 'hard time,' is he better representative of black culture?"
Favor cited another stereotype people associate with African-Americans.
"In our common sense notion of culture, we would say that basketball is a part of black culture," he said. "It's not even American."
Students also asked questions and commented on Favor's statements.
"We're not a monolithic culture," said Rodrego Byerly '98, a member of Alpha Phi. "When does a culture become ours?"
"There are people on different ends of the spectrum," he said. "Does that mean that you're not black?"
Favor said Americans reach unfair conclusions when defining black culture. For instance, he said, many people associate welfare assistance with certain racial cultures.
"When people talk about welfare ... it is something coded about the idea of race," Favor said.
"On the evening news, on ABC, CBS and NBC, of course they have to have a picture to go along with the story," he said. "And usually it's a black face."
"This is incredibly misleading," Favor said. "The majority of people on welfare in this country are white."
Favor said the idea of different races is relatively new to humans. He said the term was almost nonexistent a few centuries ago.
"Race as we know it [became] increasingly codified as slavery becomes important," Favor said. He said racial division grew from "white supremacist and exploitative ideals."
"The idea of black culture carries a white supremacist backlash," Favor said. "Race is a justification for enslavement and exploitation."
He questioned the necessity of classifying people according to race. "We can respect difference without infusing it with the baggage of race," Favor said.
