White saviorism in Emira’S life in Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age

This item is published by Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Ampel Surabaya

Rania, Shalimar Noor (2022) White saviorism in Emira’S life in Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age. Undergraduate thesis, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

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Abstract

This study aims to explain the white saviorism Emira, the black character in the story, experiences in Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age. This study focuses on two research questions there are 1) How does the white saviorism happen in Emira’s life in Such A Fun Age? and 2) How does the white saviorism affect Emira’s life in Such A Fun Age? This study used Delgado & Stefancic’s critical race theory, focusing on the concept that racism is ordinary, not aberrational and white power’s important purposes. Furthermore, this study used Freire’s concept of white saviorism, consisting of fear of freedom and decision-making confusion. The qualitative methods were used in this study to collect and analyze the data to answer the research questions. The researcher discovered that the white saviorism in Emira’s life is represented by Alix’s behaviors. Alix's orders to Emira without any concern for Emira's personal life reflect Delgado & Stenfancic’s concept that racism is ordinary, not aberrational. Furthermore, Alix’s certainty towards Emira to keep having a job as her babysitter reflects Delgado & Stenfancic’s concept of white power’s important purposes. This concept is also reflected in Alix’s insistence on Emira to realize that Emira’s boyfriend is not a good person, while actually, Alix seems to have a lingering feeling for him, who is also Alix’s past boyfriend. Furthermore, this study discovered two significant impacts of white saviorism in Emira’s life. Emira thinks that it will be difficult for her to get a job other than being a babysitter. Emira’s fear of being free from Alix’s family reflects Freire’s concept of fear of freedom. Meanwhile, Emira’s confusion in making decisions because Alix always makes ones for her reflects Freire’s concept of decision-making confusion. The findings in this study indicate that white savior behaviors bring more harm than benefit because the behaviors seem to help black people but are actually discriminating.