| Abstrakt: |
Though American writers Margaret Fuller and W.E.B. Du Bois never crossed paths, their "Leila" and "Atlanta" were both contenders in the nineteenth century's race for social reform. Through the lens of both social identity theory, developed in the 1970s, and multiple identity theory, introduced in 2002, I examine how both Fuller and Du Bois grappled with their era's social prescriptions. I argue that Fuller's Leila, from The Dial, and Du Bois's Atlanta, from The Souls of Black Folk, were autobiographical personifications of their author's struggles for social reform. Through their writing, the two revolutionaries challenged social barriers--Fuller the gender line and Du Bois the color line. I show that using Fuller and Du Bois as models, students today can shape their own ipseity to promote "multiple social identities with awareness of crosscutting memberships [which are] an effective formula" for perpetuating Fuller's and Du Bois's social progress and "the collective understanding of [any] discourse community." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
