| Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity Contributor(s): Prashad, Vijay (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807050113 ISBN-13: 9780807050118 Publisher: Beacon Press OUR PRICE: $21.78 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2002 Annotation: A revolutionary reappraisal of Afro-Asian relationships that will change multiculturalism as we know it In this landmark work, historian Vijay Prashad refuses to engage the typical racial discussion that matches people of color against each other while institutionalizing the primacy of the white majority. Instead, he examines more than five centuries of remarkable historical evidence of cultural and political interaction between Blacks and Asians around the world, in which they have exchanged cultural and religious symbols, appropriated personas and lifestyles, and worked together to achieve political change. From the Shivites of Jamaica who introduced Ganja and dreadlocks to the Afro-Jamaicans; to Ho Chi Minh the Garveyite; to Japanese-American Richard Aoki, a charter member of the Black Panthers, Prashad shows that African- and Asian-derived movements and culture, like all others, have been porous rather than discrete. "Kung Fu is a treasury of hidden histories and startling solidarities. But Prashad is not simply celebratory: he also takes on the 'primordialism' of Afrocentrists and Asian nationalists in a book that is both unapologetically radical and alive to paradox." --The Village Voice, "Our 25 Favorite Books of 2001" "Prashad makes a bold statement in a field often mired in redundancy." --Benjamin King, AsianWeek "Prashad demolishes the conservative conceits of ethnic essentialism and so-called multiculturalism. In the usual dead zone of debate about identity politics, this little book is a refreshing oasis of original insight and unexpected affinity." --Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz and Late Victorian Holocausts Vijay Prashad isdirector and associate professor of international studies at Trinity College and the author of The Karma of Brown Folk. He lives in Hartford, Connecticut. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - Asian American Studies - Social Science | Minority Studies - History |
| Dewey: 305.800 |
| LCCN: 2001001771 |
| Series: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 5.9" W x 8.8" (0.70 lbs) 232 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Ethnic Orientation - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Selected as One of the Village Voice's Favorite 25 Books of 2001 In this landmark work, historian Vijay Prashad refuses to engage the typical racial discussion that matches people of color against each other while institutionalizing the primacy of the white majority. Instead he examines more than five centuries of remarkable historical evidence of cultural and political interaction between Blacks and Asians around the world, in which they have exchanged cultural and religious symbols, appropriated personas and lifestyles, and worked together to achieve political change. |