Ntozake Shange :: Male White Dominance Essays Prejudice

Ntozake Shange After spending a semester looking at Gardner's limited selection of people, I became frustrated at his blatant message that White male creativity is the only one to exist. With his obtrusive message in mind, I felt the need to challenge Gardner and his model to become less Euro-centrally male driven. In order to confront him, I have chosen a person who is neither, White nor male. Instead, she is a Black American woman who I can consider to be, in many aspects, a creative genius. Although I find it incredibly hypocritical to try to fit Ntozake Shange into Gardner's creativity model, for all intensive purposes for the class I will first point out how she does meet his model. Next, in accordance with Black feminists, I will examine why she does not fit into Gardner's creativity model and frankly, why it does not matter that she is not shaped into the model. Further, I will confront the issue that marginal people are rejected society's cannon (i.e. the white male cannon), and how Gardner, in the position of a writer he could have broken down some of these barriers. Ntozake Shange does fit into five of the seven intelligences in Howard Gardner's model. As a performance artist, poet, musician, writer, and politician, Shange's intelligences span the interpersonal, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, and verbal talents. She blends music, drama, and poetry to characterize the Black experience in America, particularly the Black female experience. Her works empower women to take responsibility for their lives by learning to love themselves and challenge their oppressors. Shange's life and works give clarification and direction to the current feminist movement (Black Women in America). Furthermore, her supportive back-ground fits her into Gardner'stheory that, "the roles of family and teachers during the formative years, as well as the roles of crucial supportive individuals during the times in which a creative breakthrough seems imminent" through the lives of creative people (8). Paulette Williams was born to Eloise and Paul Williams on October 18th, 1948. Later in life, Paulette Williams changed her "slave name" to an African name, Ntozake Shange. Ntozake means "she who comes with her own things" and Shange means "who walks like a lion" (Current Biography 1978). However, in her earlier life, Shange lived a seemingly comfortable life. Her mother was a psychiatrist/social worker and her father was a surgeon. Despite their Blackness in a times of segregation, Shange was given violin and dancing lessons while exposed to other artistic activities as well.