AN ACCOUNT OF A LIFE LIVED: HERBERT BLUMER REVISITED

Abstract

It's official – my sister is black. It says so in the second paragraph of the autopsy report – “The body is that of a normally developed obese black female whose appearance is compatible with the recorded age of 41 years.” OK, the obese part we knew – but black? This finding was confirmed on her death certificate as well: there in black and white the word “Black” in the Race category. It's ironic that my sister achieved in death what had eluded her in life: an official, unambiguous racial identity.

Citation

Manges Douglas, K. (2005), "AN ACCOUNT OF A LIFE LIVED: HERBERT BLUMER REVISITED", Denzin, N.K. (Ed.) Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 28), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 409-417. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-2396(04)28029-2