Cooper's View from the City Streets

So far, I am of the opinion that one of the boldest (and by my standards, the boldest) statement we have read this semester comes from Anna Julia Cooper. It is not speaking directly about a rhetorical theory, but it applies to many of the discoveries we have made in class. In the excerpt we read from her “Voice from the South,” she claims that  blacks are “a race that has produced for America the only folk-lore and folk songs of native growth, a race which has grown the most original and unique assemblage of fable and myth to be found on the continent, a race which has suggested and inspired almost the only distinctive American note which could chain the attention and charm the ear of the outside world,” and that they have “as yet found no mouthpiece of its own to unify and perpetuate its wondrous whisperings…” (Cooper 383).

Now, I am absolutely not claiming that whites have more folklore or fables, but America houses so many other cultures that I find it hard to understand how anyone can claim with such authority that their race is the only one to produce these things—Native Americans come to mind here as a race that has produced folklore, songs, and fables enough to rival any other race, if not surpass them entirely. What made her statement stand out so much to me is the fact that she comes from a race with a long history of oppression, slavery, and so many other injustices. I could be completely wrong on this, as I am not a member of either of these races, but it seems to me that it would make sense for races who have suffered so many similar injustices to be more sympathetic toward each other, to include each other in their efforts to find a “mouthpiece.” Instead, Cooper’s claim is limited to her one race. This narrow perspective that Cooper takes on this issue reminds me of de Certeau’s argument about the differences between the view of the city of Manhattan from the World Trade Center versus the view from someone walking the streets.

De Certeau says that ordinary practitioners of a city are walkers “whose bodies follow the thicks and thins of an urban text they write without being able to read it” (1344). He then goes on to argue that  “the 1370 foot high tower [i.e. The World Trade Center] that serves as a prow for Manhattan continues to construct the fiction that creates readers, makes the complexity of the city readable, and immobilizes its opaque mobility in a transparent text” (de Certeau 1344). His argument throughout the text is that a city is a text that is written by governments and other institutions, but that it is read differently depending on where you stand. If you were looking down on the city of Manhattan from the World Trade Center, for example, you would see a strategic and well-planned grid—you would see all of the different paths a person could possibly take all at one time. That is, you would have a synoptic view. On the other hand, if you were looking at the city from the ground as you walked its streets, you would have the opportunity to take shortcuts or paths that those looking down from above don’t anticipate. That is, through “pedestrian speech acts,” you have the ability to write your own, slightly different text (de Certeau 1347).

De Certeau used this theory as an avenue to discuss the act of writing versus the written text, but I think it applies to other rhetorical criticisms as well--namely Cooper's. If we apply de Certeau’s theory to Cooper’s statement, we see that she is speaking from the vantage point of someone walking in the city. Although you can see shortcuts and other sights from the ground that you can’t see above, those with a view from above can also see things that may be hidden to those on the ground. De Certeau also argues that the act of passing by can be forgotten if too much attention is placed on surveying the route or drawing a map. These surveys and maps, although they are visible, make the very operations that make them possible (e.g. the act of walking by) invisible (de Certeau, 1347). In the case of Cooper’s claim, the folklore of other cultures can be substituted for the act of passing by, made invisible by her attempts to draw attention to a single culture’s songs and fables. Her view from the streets allows her to see clearly how her race struggles to find a mouthpiece or outlet for their texts and “whisperings,” but a view from above would reveal that hers is not the only race wandering the streets of the city, searching for recognition.

-Jessica Gonzalez