| Summary: | The democratic values of justice, diversity, freedom and equality make the basic
principles in the Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution of the United
States of America. However, Blacks have suffered from the gender and racial
ideologies of hegemonic Whites which have maintained white supremacy. This study
aims to examine the ideologies of gender, race, and pluralistic politics in Hughes'
poetry, and show how these ideologies help clarifying Blacks' suffering. This study is
based on interpretive perspective, thus it employed qualitative methodology. The data
was generated through purposive sampling. Sixty poems were selected based on their
thematic subjects. Critical discourse analysis, particularly Van Dijk and Fairclough's
CDAs were employed in the analysis of data. The findings revealed that those gender
and racial ideologies constructed by hegemonic Whites increase Blacks' suffering
mainly through stereotyping. Black women are stereotyped as mammies, matriarchs,
jezebels, sapphires and submissive beings. These stereotypes perpetuate Black
women's inferiority through changing their gender roles, making them unable to
conform to true femininity and legitimizing Whites' interference. On the other hand,
Black men are stereotyped as violent, alcohol addict, hypersexual and poor. These
stereotypes emasculate Black masculinity as Black men are constructed as unqualified
patriarchs and rapists, which justify Whites' suppression of those men. Hughes' poetic
discourse addresses Blacks' suffering through proposing several pluralistic politics.
These politics encompass interest group pluralism, liberal democracy and compromise
as negotiation. They contribute to improving the unjust social reality through bringing
equality, disseminating power among ethnic groups and constructing Blacks as an
interest group able to compete for common good. This thesis argues that Hughes' poetic
discourse not only articulates Blacks' suffering, but also serves as a discourse of
emancipation. It contributes to the revelation of hegemonic social reality that
normalizes Blacks' exploitation and at the same time voices pluralistic politics that help
improving the unjust social reality experienced by Blacks in America.
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