Racism And Racial Stereotypes in Rainbow Rowell’s ‘Eleanor And Park’ Novel: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This thesis aimed to describe racism and racial stereotype in text structure, social cognition, and social context of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park novel. This thesis used qualitative descriptive design and conduct Teun A. van Dijk’s Socio-cognitive approach. The data were in the form of words, phrases and sentences which contain racism and racial stereotype in novel by Rainbow Rowell entitled Eleanor & Park. The result showed racism in Eleanor and Park novel were in the form of implicit, explicit, internalized racism, and fetishism of Asian. The racial stereotypes in the novel are the stereotypes of Asian physical features, namely the description of a short body, slanted eyes, looking weak and helpless, and also using the term "doll" to describe Asian women. The cause of racism and racial stereotypes in the novel were triggered by the inequality of access and power, lack of awareness about racial issues faced by Asian communities in western countries, and the development of the term "Model Minority" which makes an illusion that Asian community are privileged.

Skripsi ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan rasisme and stereotip rasial dalam struktur teks, kognisi sosial, dan konteks sosial dalam novel Eleanor and Park karya Rainbow Rowell. Skripsi ini menggunakan desain deskriptif kualitatif dan pendekatan kognitif sosial oleh Teun A. van Dijk. Data dalam skripsi ini berbentu kata, frase, dan kalimat yang mengandung rasisme dan stereotip rasial dalan novel Rainbow Rowell yang berjudul Eleanor and Park. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa rasisme dalam novel Eleanor and Park berbentuk implisit, eksplisit, rasisme internal, dan fetisisme terhadap orang Asia. Stereotip rasial dalam novel tersebut adalah stereotip fitur fisik Asia, yakni deskripsi tentang tubuh pendek, mata sipit, tampak lemah dan tidak berdaya, dan juga meggunakan istilah "boneka" untuk mendeskripsikan wanita Asia. Penyebab dari rasime dan stereotip rasial dalam novel tersebut antara lain dipicu oleh ketimpangan akses dan kekuatan, kurangnya kesadaran tentang isu rasial yang dihadapi oleh komunitas Asia di negara barat, dan berkembangnya terminologi "Model Minority" yang membuat seolah komunitas Asia memiliki privilese.