The Black Female Body in American Literature and Art

Performing Identity

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Black, American, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies
Cover of the book The Black Female Body in American Literature and Art by Caroline Brown, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Caroline Brown ISBN: 9781136289194
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: February 28, 2013
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Caroline Brown
ISBN: 9781136289194
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: February 28, 2013
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

This book examines how African-American writers and visual artists interweave icon and inscription in order to re-present the black female body, traditionally rendered alien and inarticulate within Western discursive and visual systems. Brown considers how the writings of Toni Morrison, Gayl Jones, Paule Marshall, Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, Andrea Lee, Gloria Naylor, and Martha Southgate are bound to such contemporary, postmodern visual artists as Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, Kara Walker, Betye Saar, and Faith Ringgold. While the artists and authors rely on radically different media—photos, collage, video, and assembled objects, as opposed to words and rhythm—both sets of intellectual activists insist on the primacy of the black aesthetic. Both assert artistic agency and cultural continuity in the face of the oppression, social transformation, and cultural multiplicity of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This book examines how African-American performative practices mediate the tension between the ostensibly de-racialized body politic and the hyper-racialized black, female body, reimagining the cultural and political ground that guides various articulations of American national belonging. Brown shows how and why black women writers and artists matter as agents of change, how and why the form and content of their works must be recognized and reconsidered in the increasingly frenzied arena of cultural production and political debate.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This book examines how African-American writers and visual artists interweave icon and inscription in order to re-present the black female body, traditionally rendered alien and inarticulate within Western discursive and visual systems. Brown considers how the writings of Toni Morrison, Gayl Jones, Paule Marshall, Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, Andrea Lee, Gloria Naylor, and Martha Southgate are bound to such contemporary, postmodern visual artists as Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, Kara Walker, Betye Saar, and Faith Ringgold. While the artists and authors rely on radically different media—photos, collage, video, and assembled objects, as opposed to words and rhythm—both sets of intellectual activists insist on the primacy of the black aesthetic. Both assert artistic agency and cultural continuity in the face of the oppression, social transformation, and cultural multiplicity of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This book examines how African-American performative practices mediate the tension between the ostensibly de-racialized body politic and the hyper-racialized black, female body, reimagining the cultural and political ground that guides various articulations of American national belonging. Brown shows how and why black women writers and artists matter as agents of change, how and why the form and content of their works must be recognized and reconsidered in the increasingly frenzied arena of cultural production and political debate.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Activity Based Management by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Social Studies in the New Education Policy Era by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Death and Chronic Illness in the Family by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book The Music of Juan de Anchieta by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Moral Learning by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book In the Shadow of the Generals by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book This Modern Romance: The Artistry, Technique, and Business of Engagement Photography by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Women and Work by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Gender Transgressions by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Phossy Jaw and the French Match Workers by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Privatization, Vulnerability, and Social Responsibility by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Economic Clusters and Globalization by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book A Scent of Sandalwood by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book The Embodied Psychotherapist by Caroline Brown
Cover of the book Equity and Trusts by Caroline Brown
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy