Universidad Tecnológica Nacional

Instituto Nacional Superior del Profesorado Técnico

En convenio académico con la Facultad de Villa María

Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa

Dissertation Proposal

Candidate: Vanesa G. Sampaolesi

Proposed title of dissertation: Intersecting oppressions in Kathrynn

Stockett’s The Help: a key to understand black women’s

empowerment.

Introduction: Patricia Hill Collins (2002) developed the theory of

Intersecting Oppressions to explain the particular oppressive situation

of African American women. She claims that African American

women’s lives are shaped by a system of interconnected

oppressions: Race, class, and gender constitute interlocking

categories of oppression that affect the lives of these women and

therefore create a network of injustice. In addition, Hill Collins claims

that African American women comprise an unusual group because

they are attacked from many perspectives. For instance, not only did

black women in America have to fight for their rights in the past, but

also many still confront prejudices against them. Moreover, most of

them work in low-paid jobs mainly connected to service occupations

and, last but not least, they battle the constant negative images that

society builds upon them. All these constraints make them part of a

rather unique group.

African American women have historically had to resist the

discriminatory practices held against them. However, according to Hill

Collins, they become empowered once they are able to resist

oppression. This resisting attitude enables them to define themselves

and avoid being defined by others. Similarly, they attain resistance if

they are able to reject the negative images by which they are

portrayed. Lastly, empowerment is accomplished when black women

resist subjugation in their ‘safe places’ (p.100): important locations

where they can counterattack the dominant ideology that surrounds

them. These locations are social spaces in which Black women find

themselves free to speak and, as a consequence, share acts of

resistance against subordination.

In this work, I attempt to explore how the two main black characters in

the novel The Help (2009), which takes place in Jackson, Mississippi,
 in the 1960s, experience and confront the diverse categories of

oppression and whether, from a unique ‘outsider-within social

location’ (Hill Collins, 2002) they reach empowerment through self-

definition, self-valuation and self-reliance.

Moreover, this work aims at defining the context in which these

women’s lives develop in order to uncover the various mechanisms of

racial prejudice and oppression present at that time. A brief account

of historical facts as well as a definition of what prejudice is and how it

operates in society will be included in order to provide evidence to

support this point.

Research question: To what extent do the main black characters in

The Help resist and overcome oppression to finally reach

empowerment?

Basic Hypotheses:

- Aibeleen and Minny, the two main black characters in The Help, seem to be

subjected to a system of intersecting oppressions which they resist.

- They are likely to become empowered by gaining self-definition, self-

valuation and self-reliance.

- They might be able to reject the negative controlling image of the ‘mammy’

in order to confront socially and politically built stereotypes.

- They may not only resist oppression individually, but also help the other

maids overcome their oppressive situation in the ‘safe places’.

Proposed research methods: The proposed methods will be basic

qualitative research as well as content analysis (Ary, D., Jacobs, L.,

Razavieh, A., & Sorensen C., 2005), by which the main characters in the

story will be analysed, compared and contrasted in the light of Patricia Hill

Collin’s theoretical framework as described in her book Black Feminist

Thought, among other works by other thinkers (Andersen, 2006; Sokoloff &

Dupont 2005; Hooks, 1990; King, 1988). Similarly, the context of the novel

will be explored in order to understand the specific moments and situations

in which the characters experience the intersecting oppressions.

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