Dark Designs and Visual Culture
Will be published approx. on 6. December 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
528 pages
978-0-8223-3413-2 (ISBN)
Description
Michele Wallace burst into public consciousness with the 1979 publication of Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman, a pioneering critique of the misogyny of the Black Power movement and the effects of racism and sexism on black women. Since then, Wallace has produced an extraordinary body of journalism and criticism engaging with popular culture and gender and racial politics. This collection brings together more than fifty of the articles she has written over the past fifteen years. Included alongside many of her best-known pieces are previously unpublished essays as well as interviews conducted with Wallace about her work. Dark Designs and Visual Culture charts the development of a singular, pathbreaking black feminist consciousness.Beginning with a new introduction in which Wallace reflects on her life and career, this volume includes other autobiographical essays; articles focused on popular culture, the arts, and literary theory; and explorations of issues in black visual culture. Wallace discusses growing up in Harlem; how she dealt with the media attention and criticism she received for Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman, which was published when she was just twenty-seven years old; and her relationship with her family, especially her mother, the well-known artist Faith Ringgold. The many articles devoted to black visual culture range from the historical tragedy of the Hottentot Venus, an African woman displayed as a curiosity in nineteenth-century Europe, to films that sexualize the black body-such as Watermelon Woman, Gone with the Wind, and Paris Is Burning. Whether writing about the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings, rap music, the Million Man March, Toshi Reagon, multiculturalism, Marlon Riggs, or a nativity play in Bedford Stuyvesant, Wallace is a bold, incisive critic. Dark Designs and Visual Culture brings the scope of her career and thought into sharp focus.
Reviews / Votes
"Dark Designs and Visual Culture is a remarkable compilation of images, self-reflexive essays, and other critical works. It demonstrates Michele Wallace's mastery of cultural criticism and indicates her interaction with American and African American visual culture during the past thirty years. A writer of extraordinary talent, she wields an ever sharpened insight and wit."-Deborah Willis "I can hardly think of a living critic who is as courageous as Michele Wallace-she says things no one else dares to-and this collection proves just how consistent her bravery has been over the years."-Andrew Ross "Michele Wallace has long been one of the most insightful and brave writers dealing with popular culture in this country. Her latest work continues that tradition of courage and wit."-Nelson GeorgeMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
61 b&w photos
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
708 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8223-3413-2 (9780822334132)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Michele Wallace is Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University. She is the author of Invisibility Blues: From Pop to Theory and Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman. She has written for numerous popular and scholarly publications, including The Village Voice, The New York Times, Emerge, Aperture, Ms., October, and Renaissance Noire.
Content
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Part I. The Autobiographical: 1989 through 2001
1. Whose Town? Questioning Community and Identity 81
2. Places I've Lived 85
3. Engaging and Escaping in 1994 88
4. To Hell and Back: On the Road with Black Feminism in the '60s and '70s
5. Censorship and Self-Censorship 111
6. An Interview 114
Part II. Mass Culture and Popular Journalism
7. Watching Arsenio 127
8. Black Stereotypes in Hollywood Films: "I Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout Birthin' No Babies!" 130
9. When Black Feminism Faces the Music, and the Music Is Rap 134
10. Storytellers: The Thomas-Hill Affair 138
11. Talking about the Gulf 141
12. Beyond Assimilation 144
13. "Why Won't Women Relate to 'Justice'": Losing Her Voice 147
14. For Whom the Bell Tolls: Why Americans Can't Deal with Black Feminist Intellectuals 149
15. Miracle in East New York 161
Part III. New York Postmodernism and Black Cultural Studies
16. The Politics of Location: Cinema/Theory/Literature/Ethnicity/Sexuality/Me 167
17. Black Feminist Criticism: A Politics of Location and Beloved 179
18. Why Are There No Great Black Artists? The Problem of Visuality in African American Culture 184
19. High Mass 195
20. Symposium on Intellectual Correctness 197
21. The Culture War within the Culture Wars 202
22. Boyz N the Hood and Jungle Fever 215
Part IV. Multiculturalism in the Arts
23. Race, Gender, and Psychoanalysis in Forties Films 223
24. Multicultural Blues: An Interview with Michele Wallace 238
25. Multiculturalism and Oppositionality 249
26. Black Women in Popular Culture: From Stereotype to Heroine 264
27. The Search for the Good Enough Mammy: Multiculturalism, Popular Culture, and Psychoanalysis 275
Part V. Henry Louis Gates and African American Poststructuralism
28. Henry Louis Gates: A Race Man and a Scholar 289
29. If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em: Stanley Crouch and Shaharazad Ali 297
30. Let's Get Serious: Marching with the Million 309
31. Out of Step with the Million Man March 311
32. Neither Fish nor Fowl: The Crisis of African American Gender Relations 314
33. The Problem with Black Masculinity and Celebrity 318
34. The Fame Game 324
35. Skip Gates's Africa 328
Part VI. Queer Theory and Visual Culture
36. Defacing History 339
37. When Dream Girls Grow Old 353
38. The French Collection 357
39. Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Problem of the Visual in Afro-American Culture 364
40. A Fierce Flame: Marlon Riggs 379
41. "Harlem on My Mind" 382
42. Questions on Feminism 386
43. Feminism, Race, and the Division of Labor 390
44. Doin' the Right Thing: Ten Years after She's Gotta Have It 401
45. The Gap Alternative 410
46. Art on My Mind 417
47. Pictures Can Lie 422
48. The Hottentot Venus 426
49. Angels in America, Paris is Burning, and Queer Theory 430
50. Toshi Reagon's Birthday 454
51. Cheryl Dunye: Sexin' the Watermelon 457
52. The Prison House of Culture: Why African Art? Why the Guggenheim? Why Now? 460
53. Black Female Spectatorship 474
54. Bamboozled: The Archive 486
Index 495
Introduction 1
Part I. The Autobiographical: 1989 through 2001
1. Whose Town? Questioning Community and Identity 81
2. Places I've Lived 85
3. Engaging and Escaping in 1994 88
4. To Hell and Back: On the Road with Black Feminism in the '60s and '70s
5. Censorship and Self-Censorship 111
6. An Interview 114
Part II. Mass Culture and Popular Journalism
7. Watching Arsenio 127
8. Black Stereotypes in Hollywood Films: "I Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout Birthin' No Babies!" 130
9. When Black Feminism Faces the Music, and the Music Is Rap 134
10. Storytellers: The Thomas-Hill Affair 138
11. Talking about the Gulf 141
12. Beyond Assimilation 144
13. "Why Won't Women Relate to 'Justice'": Losing Her Voice 147
14. For Whom the Bell Tolls: Why Americans Can't Deal with Black Feminist Intellectuals 149
15. Miracle in East New York 161
Part III. New York Postmodernism and Black Cultural Studies
16. The Politics of Location: Cinema/Theory/Literature/Ethnicity/Sexuality/Me 167
17. Black Feminist Criticism: A Politics of Location and Beloved 179
18. Why Are There No Great Black Artists? The Problem of Visuality in African American Culture 184
19. High Mass 195
20. Symposium on Intellectual Correctness 197
21. The Culture War within the Culture Wars 202
22. Boyz N the Hood and Jungle Fever 215
Part IV. Multiculturalism in the Arts
23. Race, Gender, and Psychoanalysis in Forties Films 223
24. Multicultural Blues: An Interview with Michele Wallace 238
25. Multiculturalism and Oppositionality 249
26. Black Women in Popular Culture: From Stereotype to Heroine 264
27. The Search for the Good Enough Mammy: Multiculturalism, Popular Culture, and Psychoanalysis 275
Part V. Henry Louis Gates and African American Poststructuralism
28. Henry Louis Gates: A Race Man and a Scholar 289
29. If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em: Stanley Crouch and Shaharazad Ali 297
30. Let's Get Serious: Marching with the Million 309
31. Out of Step with the Million Man March 311
32. Neither Fish nor Fowl: The Crisis of African American Gender Relations 314
33. The Problem with Black Masculinity and Celebrity 318
34. The Fame Game 324
35. Skip Gates's Africa 328
Part VI. Queer Theory and Visual Culture
36. Defacing History 339
37. When Dream Girls Grow Old 353
38. The French Collection 357
39. Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Problem of the Visual in Afro-American Culture 364
40. A Fierce Flame: Marlon Riggs 379
41. "Harlem on My Mind" 382
42. Questions on Feminism 386
43. Feminism, Race, and the Division of Labor 390
44. Doin' the Right Thing: Ten Years after She's Gotta Have It 401
45. The Gap Alternative 410
46. Art on My Mind 417
47. Pictures Can Lie 422
48. The Hottentot Venus 426
49. Angels in America, Paris is Burning, and Queer Theory 430
50. Toshi Reagon's Birthday 454
51. Cheryl Dunye: Sexin' the Watermelon 457
52. The Prison House of Culture: Why African Art? Why the Guggenheim? Why Now? 460
53. Black Female Spectatorship 474
54. Bamboozled: The Archive 486
Index 495