ABSTRACT
In denying truth a position within representation, The Great White Man of Lambarene structures its narrative around one of the core structures to the operation of racism, the process of signification. In the former process, the status of the signifier is made to be invisible, a strategy to reinforce the meanings of race by making them seem "natural" or "inevitable." Hall's argument underscores both the dialectical relationship and the political dimension to racial identity. A social construct, race is a network of signifiers and meaning assigned to and by particular groups to create and respond to the real effects of social organization and its operations. The reluctance of racial groups to concede as arbitrary the traits it assigns to itself is understandable. Formed by the imposition of the signifier, racial groups are nonetheless able to carve out of that imposition the space for collective solidarity and support—even if the original intent of the racial construction is oppression and disenfranchisement.
