GerShun Avilez
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040122
- eISBN:
- 9780252098321
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040122.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter tracks how artists investigate the discourse of reproduction not simply to explore dual meanings, but rather to consider how the politicized concept of reproduction functions as a ...
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This chapter tracks how artists investigate the discourse of reproduction not simply to explore dual meanings, but rather to consider how the politicized concept of reproduction functions as a contested means for conveying gender identity. In her painted quilt sequence The Slave Rape Series, Faith Ringgold uses reproduction to establish a visual interrogation of Black gender identity and to probe the implications of the commitment to reproductive paradigms. Her paintings of the pregnant body create the opportunity to recast the images circulating in political discourse, which favor restrictive conceptions of gender expression, especially in regard to femininity. On the other hand, Toni Morrison's novel Paradise (1997) moves the questioning of reproduction to the realm of narrative and enhances the exploration of masculinity. Meanwhile, Spike Lee's feature film She Hate Me (2004) evokes nationalist strategies by offering an exploration of reproduction as a viable mechanism for resolving social anxieties about gender identity and for rearticulating Black social agency.Less
This chapter tracks how artists investigate the discourse of reproduction not simply to explore dual meanings, but rather to consider how the politicized concept of reproduction functions as a contested means for conveying gender identity. In her painted quilt sequence The Slave Rape Series, Faith Ringgold uses reproduction to establish a visual interrogation of Black gender identity and to probe the implications of the commitment to reproductive paradigms. Her paintings of the pregnant body create the opportunity to recast the images circulating in political discourse, which favor restrictive conceptions of gender expression, especially in regard to femininity. On the other hand, Toni Morrison's novel Paradise (1997) moves the questioning of reproduction to the realm of narrative and enhances the exploration of masculinity. Meanwhile, Spike Lee's feature film She Hate Me (2004) evokes nationalist strategies by offering an exploration of reproduction as a viable mechanism for resolving social anxieties about gender identity and for rearticulating Black social agency.
Kendahl Radcliffe, Jennifer Scott, and Anja Werner (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628461558
- eISBN:
- 9781626740839
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628461558.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Anywhere But Here: Black Intellectuals, The Atlantic World and Beyond brings together new scholarship on the cross-cultural experiences of intellectuals of African descent since the 18th century. The ...
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Anywhere But Here: Black Intellectuals, The Atlantic World and Beyond brings together new scholarship on the cross-cultural experiences of intellectuals of African descent since the 18th century. The intent of this book is not to dismantle Paul Gilroy’s thesis but to embrace it and venture “beyond” the traditional organization and symbolism of the “Black Atlantic.” This collection of essays is not organized geographically or historically by era; instead, contributions are arranged into three sections which highlight the motivations and characteristics that connect a certain set of “agents,” thinkers, and intellectuals: 1) Re-ordering Worldviews: Rebellious Thinkers, Poets, Writers, and Political Architects; 2) Crafting Connections: Strategic and Ideological Alliances; 3) Cultural Mastery in Foreign Spaces: Evolving Visions of Home and Identity. These essays are intentionally organized to expand categories and to suggest patterns at play that have united individuals and communities across the African Diaspora. They highlight the self-determined stories of individuals, who from their intercultural, and often marginalized, positioning, challenged the status quo, created strategic (and at times, unexpected) international alliances, cultivated expertise and cultural competency abroad in places that were unfamiliar to them, as well as, crafted physical and intellectual spaces for their self-expression and dignity to thrive. What, for example, connects the 18th century Igbo author, Olaudah Equiano with 1940s literary figure, Richard Wright; 19th century expatriate anthropologist, Antenor Fermin with 1960s Haitian émigrés to the Congo; Japanese Pan-Asianists and Southern Hemisphere Aboriginal activists with Jamaican-born, Marcus Garvey; or Angela Davis with artists of the British Black Arts Movement Ingrid Pollard and Zarina Bhimji? They are all part of a mapping that reaches across and beyond geographical, historical, and ideological boundaries typically associated with the “Black Atlantic.” They reflect accounts of individuals and communities that are equally united in their will to seek out better realities, often, as the title suggests, “anywhere but here.”Less
Anywhere But Here: Black Intellectuals, The Atlantic World and Beyond brings together new scholarship on the cross-cultural experiences of intellectuals of African descent since the 18th century. The intent of this book is not to dismantle Paul Gilroy’s thesis but to embrace it and venture “beyond” the traditional organization and symbolism of the “Black Atlantic.” This collection of essays is not organized geographically or historically by era; instead, contributions are arranged into three sections which highlight the motivations and characteristics that connect a certain set of “agents,” thinkers, and intellectuals: 1) Re-ordering Worldviews: Rebellious Thinkers, Poets, Writers, and Political Architects; 2) Crafting Connections: Strategic and Ideological Alliances; 3) Cultural Mastery in Foreign Spaces: Evolving Visions of Home and Identity. These essays are intentionally organized to expand categories and to suggest patterns at play that have united individuals and communities across the African Diaspora. They highlight the self-determined stories of individuals, who from their intercultural, and often marginalized, positioning, challenged the status quo, created strategic (and at times, unexpected) international alliances, cultivated expertise and cultural competency abroad in places that were unfamiliar to them, as well as, crafted physical and intellectual spaces for their self-expression and dignity to thrive. What, for example, connects the 18th century Igbo author, Olaudah Equiano with 1940s literary figure, Richard Wright; 19th century expatriate anthropologist, Antenor Fermin with 1960s Haitian émigrés to the Congo; Japanese Pan-Asianists and Southern Hemisphere Aboriginal activists with Jamaican-born, Marcus Garvey; or Angela Davis with artists of the British Black Arts Movement Ingrid Pollard and Zarina Bhimji? They are all part of a mapping that reaches across and beyond geographical, historical, and ideological boundaries typically associated with the “Black Atlantic.” They reflect accounts of individuals and communities that are equally united in their will to seek out better realities, often, as the title suggests, “anywhere but here.”
