Self-identity,Self-respect and“Somebodiness”
The crux of self-definition,according to Essence editors,is the discovery of ones spiritual self in reference to definitive black culture and ancestry.By befriending the reader and providing testimonial shared experiences,Essence contends“to give black women what they need to make them feel whole”(Essence Editorial Objectives,2001,1).The uncertain post-9/11 era propels O magazine readers to consume the relatively new monthly committed to intimately addressing the epistemology and“unshakeable”belief system of each reader(Granastein,2000,p.74).
In addition to publishing,production and mission similarities and an ethnic bond,Ebony,Essence and O were created in response to a social and political urgency,according to the respective founders.The post-WWII political atmosphere and racial tension inspired the founding of Ebony magazine.American society overlooked African-American life,directly criticized their employment capabilities and further ignited racial stereotypes.Ebony sought to define black culture and polarize the depth of the black personality and intellect(Ebony,1995,p.80).Now the longest-running African-American magazine,Ebony is published by the Johnson Publishing Company under the direction of the first African-American media entrepreneur,John H.Johnson.
Essence magazine is jointly owned by media giant Time Inc.and Essence Communications Partners Inc.The black power movement,fused with a feminist movement that marginalized black women motivated the launch of Essence magazine in May 1970.The initial goal was to differentiate this publication from traditional magazines by illuminating the black woman and addressing her cultural,social and political needs.Essence,which is the first African-American publication to make Advertising Age's“A-List,”ranked seventh among top 10 magazines in 2003(Essence.com,2004).“Essence is the magazine most read by black women in the United States,”although circulation numbers have somewhat dropped(Kuczynski,March 6,2000).
Oprah Winfrey(Harpo Productions),the celebrity phenomenon that energizes O magazine,shares the publication with Hearst Corporation's magazine division.Though not as demographically specific as its counterparts,O purports to intimately connect with all women on a level beyond the superficiality of weight loss and elevated sexual pleasure.The O editors seek to guide their readers in a spiritual exploration of their life,to encourage her to explore what she wants opposed to what is wanted of her(The Magazine Guys.com,2004).According to Winfrey,the events of September 11,2001,in line with the cultural,social and economic divide all paint a picture of societal disconnect.“What this magazine does is reconnect people to what deserves priority and to bring meaning to their lives”(O'Leary,2001,p.53).Ironically,Oprah's magazine has a predominately white female readership(95%women and 86.6%white)with a median age of 38 and nearly two times the median household income than either Essence or Ebony($61,204)(Carr,2002).
In contemporary society,the hegemonic process does not attempt to brainwash“the masses”but instead focuses on the ability of public discourse to“make some forms of experience available to the consciousness while ignoring or suppressing others”(Lears,1985,p.577).Williams suggests that hegemonic forces deeply saturate the consciousness of society,as a highly complex combination of internal structures that must be continually renewed,recreated,and defended.These dominant ideological structures are continually challenged and modified by emergent and oppositional forces.Any hegemonic process must constantly be aware of alternatives and oppositional forces that question or threaten its dominance.As Williams explains,“the reality of any hegemony,in the extended political and cultural sense,is that,while by definition it is always dominant,it is never either total or exclusive”(Williams,1977/88,p.113).From a cultural-materialist perspective it is possible to evaluate cultural practices to see how a dominant hegemonic position is constructed as well as to see how oppositional forces may arise to challenge the dominant worldview.
In his seminal article“Encoding/Decoding,”Stuart Hall rejects the traditional mass communication sender/message/receiver model that envisions a passive audience absorbing ideologically dominant messages.Instead Hall conceptualizes an active audience that decodes messages in a variety of ways:audiences may align themselves with the dominant hegemonic position,however they may also decode messages from a negotiated understanding,or even from an oppositional stance(Hall,2001).Hall also problematizes the encoding or production process suggesting that within the creation of cultural products producers construct an intended audience based on professional ideologies,images,assumptions,and past knowledge about the audience.It is the construction of an intended audience within the hegemonic process that we seek to understand in our evaluation of Ebony,Essence and O magazines.