URBANIZING THE BLACK SPACE AND THE COLONIALITY OF POWER IN RICHARD WRIGHT'S NATIVE SON

Abstract

Coloniality of power structures racial and spatial hierarchy that characterize modern American urban spaces. This paper examines how Richard Wright’s Native Son depicts Chicago’s Black urban space as a representation of coloniality of power and Black experience from trans-Atlantic slavery. The paper employs Aníbal Quijano’s postcolonial-psychoanalytic theory to examine how racial segregation in the city does not only controls Black people but also fractures Black minds. Focusing on three research objectives, the paper aims to examine: the ghetto as a colonial enclave, how coloniality structures racial and spatial hierarchies, and how Bigger Thomas’s psychic experiences reflect the mental cost of urban coloniality. The findings show that Wright portrays the city as a system that keeps colonial power alive through space, economy, and knowledge, while Bigger’s violence and resistance expose the deep psychological damage it causes. The article, however, brings a new insight to the reading of Native Son by linking slavery and structural oppression with mental trauma, while the text still speaks to racial struggles today.