Dealing with Racial Discrimination Exploring the Coping Strategies Utilised by the Protagonist in Alice Walker's Meridian
Keywords:
Race, Racism, Racial Discrimination, Coping Strategies, Meridian
Abstract
Combating, eliminating and dealing with racial discrimination is not an easy undertaking. The historical and social-political space in which it is embedded somewhat intensifies its complexity. However, communal and individual efforts ought to be made in a bid to reduce and eradicate this negative issue. Drawing on Alice Walker’s Meridian, this article attempts to explore racial discrimination and the utilisation of coping strategies to deal with this problematic issue in the aforementioned novel. The stress and coping theory is central in the analysis as it provides insights into the specific coping strategies utilised by the main character in this narrative. Textual analysis was conducted anchored on the stress and coping theory during the collection of data and a thematic analysis was rendered afterwards. The principal findings of this research are that, Meridian utilises emotion focused, avoidance and problem focused strategies to deal with the recurring issue of racial discrimination. The wide range of strategies deployed enable her to cope, press on and deal with the various race-oriented challenges she encounters, highlighting the significance of individuals acquainting themselves with strategies of this nature.References
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18. Walker, A. (1976). Meridian. New York: Open Road Media.
2. Brannon, L., and Fiest, J. (2007). Defining and Measuring Stress In Health Psychology: An Introduction to Behaviour and Health (6 th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Higher Education.
3. Chilala, H K C. (2017). Dorika’s Metamorphosis: The Allusive Potency of a Comic Character.
4. Cramer, P. (1987). The Development of Defence Mechanisms. Journal of Personality, Vol 55, pp. 597614.
5. Cox, J.M., Toussaint, A., and Woerner, J. (2023). Coping While Black: Comparing Coping Strategies Across COVID-19 and the Killing of Black People. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 11, 1211–1222. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01600-x
6. Folkman, S., and Lazarus, R. S. (1984). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, Vol 120, pp. 219-139.
7. Folkman, S., and Lazarus, R. (1985). If it Changes It Must Be a Process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 48, pp. 150-170.
8. Haeny A. M., Holmes S. C., and Williams M. T. (2021). The need for shared nomenclature on racism and related terminology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(5), 886-892.
https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211000760
9. Ogden, J. (2004). Heath Psychology: A Text Book. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
10. Haan, P.M. (1977). Coping and Defending . San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
11. Mwansa, T. (2023). Coping with Racism: An Analysis of Defence Mechanims Employed by Lubinda in Dominic Mulaisho’s The Tongue of the Dumb. Journal of Law and Social Sciences, Vol 5 (2), pp.32-42.
12. Ogden, J. (2004). Heath Psychology: A Text Book. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
13. Parsons, T and Bales, R. (1956). Family Socialisation and Interaction Process. London: Routledge and Keagan Paul Inc.
14. Pettigrew, T.F., and Taylor, M.C. (2000). Racial Discrimination. In N.J. Smelser &P.B. Baltes (Ed), International Encyclopedia for the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Revised Edition. Oxford, U,K: Pergamon.
15. Suresh, P., and Anuradha, P. (2018). A Critical Analysis of Women Oppression in Alice Walkers Major Novels. Eurasian Journal of Analytical Chemestry, Vol 13(4), 95-102.
16. Tembo, D. (2009). The Self and the Community In Alice Walker’s The Colur Purple and Meridian. MA Thesis: University of Zambia.
17. Tao, W., Li, J.-Y., Lee, Y., and He, M. (2024). Individual and collective coping with racial discrimination: What drives social media activism among Asian Americans during the COVID-19 outbreak. New Media & Society, 26(6), 3168-3187. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221100835
18. Walker, A. (1976). Meridian. New York: Open Road Media.
Published
2025-10-28
How to Cite
Mwansa, T. (2025) “Dealing with Racial Discrimination Exploring the Coping Strategies Utilised by the Protagonist in Alice Walker’s Meridian”, Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 6(4). doi: https://doi.org/10.53974/unza.jlss.6.4.1594.
Section
Humanities