| Negotiating Difference: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Positionality Contributor(s): Awkward, Michael (Author) |
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ISBN: 0226033015 ISBN-13: 9780226033013 Publisher: University of Chicago Press OUR PRICE: $31.68 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 1995 Annotation: Encamped within the limits of experience and "authenticity," critics today often stake out their positions according to race and ethnicity, sexuality and gender, and vigilantly guard the boundaries against any incursions into their privileged territory. In this book, Michael Awkward raids the borders of contemporary criticism to show how debilitating such "protectionist" stances can be and how much might be gained by crossing our cultural boundaries. From Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It" to Michael Jackson's physical transmutations, from Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon" to August Wilson's "Fences," from male scholars' investments in feminism to white scholars' in black texts--Awkward explores cultural moments that challenge the exclusive critical authority of race and gender. In each instance he confronts the question: What do artists, scholars, and others concerned with representations of Afro-American life make of the view that gender, race, and sexuality circumscribe their own and others' lives and narratives? Throughout he demonstrates the perils and merits of the sort of "boundary crossing" this book ultimately makes: a black male feminism. In pursuing a black male feminist criticism, Awkward's study acknowledges the complexities of interpretation in an age when a variety of powerful discourses have proliferated on the subject of racial, gendered, and sexual difference; at the same time, it identifies this proliferation as an opportunity to negotiate seemingly fixed cultural and critical positions. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | American - General - Social Science |
| Dewey: 810.989 |
| LCCN: 94017205 |
| Series: Black Literature & Culture (Paperback) |
| Physical Information: 0.62" H x 6.09" W x 9.02" (0.76 lbs) 236 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Encamped within the limits of experience and authenticity, critics today often stake out their positions according to race and ethnicity, sexuality and gender, and vigilantly guard the boundaries against any incursions into their privileged territory. In this book, Michael Awkward raids the borders of contemporary criticism to show how debilitating such protectionist stances can be and how much might be gained by crossing our cultural boundaries. From Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It to Michael Jackson's physical transmutations, from Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon to August Wilson's Fences, from male scholars' investments in feminism to white scholars' in black texts--Awkward explores cultural moments that challenge the exclusive critical authority of race and gender. In each instance he confronts the question: What do artists, scholars, and others concerned with representations of Afro-American life make of the view that gender, race, and sexuality circumscribe their own and others' lives and narratives? Throughout he demonstrates the perils and merits of the sort of boundary crossing this book ultimately makes: a black male feminism. In pursuing a black male feminist criticism, Awkward's study acknowledges the complexities of interpretation in an age when a variety of powerful discourses have proliferated on the subject of racial, gendered, and sexual difference; at the same time, it identifies this proliferation as an opportunity to negotiate seemingly fixed cultural and critical positions. |