The emergence of the student in Colin in Black and White & Top Boy

Oliver Belas

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Article

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Abstract

This article considers the relational and positional emergence of the student in two shows (markedly different narratologically and socioculturally): Colin in Black and White, which features and is based upon the life of NFL player turned activist Colin Kaepernick; and Top Boy. Both shows are concerned with the intersection of race and class and with the role of place (as particularized geographic location) and space (as cultural, ideological, discursive) in that intersection. The article considers instances in which the student emerges as such in both the presence and absence of the discursive reach (or institutional gaze) of the school. Colin in Black and White not only depicts a young Colin Kaepernick negotiating high school (a ready microcosm for the social, cultural, and political landscape of America), but also takes its audience to school: the audience is positioned as one of the show’s students. Top Boy, by contrast, dramatizes the emergence of teacher-student relations in the absence of formal educational structure. It does so by centring people and places that are often marginalized, and marginalizing those which are often centred.