Maid in Public: Negotiating ‘Authenticity’ via Public Confessionals, Or A Question of Agency: Narrative, Power, and the ‘Maid from Guinea’

Abstract

The initial observations that reached the American public about the Diallo-DSK rape case, as it was orchestrated by the popular media, was one that represented the polar opposites of global political and gender categories. American readers identified with Diallo’s initial story, as long as it remained an affair that personified the established, easily identifiable dialectical oppositions of race, class, and gender. However, when it was revealed that Diallo may have had “agency†unavailable to the classic victim – in fashioning her finances and immigration narrative – her credibility as a victim of rape was questioned. This essay explores the relationship between narratives, power, the ability of each actor to deploy their agency, and the manner in which credibility is questioned when a victim exercise whatever limited power is available to her.