The Center Within Us

      I think this quote by Culler works to describe both the issues and questions Postcolonial Theory and Critical Race Theory seek to answer and change: "If the possibilities of thought and action are determined by a series of systems which the subject does not control or even understand, then the subject is 'decentred' in the sense that it is not a source of center to which one refers to explain events" (110).
      So, how do these theories' focus on identity re-center a person/group/culture, both as a part of it but separate in its own right? Culler mentions how other theories like Psychoanalytic Criticism have reduced the core of a person to desires and circumstances, leaving the individual just a result of these parts (race, gender, sexuality, etc.), important only to showcase these things. How do these theories differ from this whittling down of center? Especially when its focus relies on these uncontrollable circumstances and society's conceptions and reactions to it?

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Also:

I couldn't help but be reminded of "Angels with Dirty Faces", where the main character, Rocky Sullivan, becomes a target/representation of his kind, the gangster. A major theme throughout is that, had he been able to run faster at a pivotal moment, he wouldn't have turned out as a criminal. So, his identity, both of where he lives and the life he leads, becomes secondhand to the circumstances that led to his 'gangsterdom'.

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