ABSTRACT
1992 was a pivotal moment in African American history, with the Rodney King riots providing palpable evidence of racialized police brutality, media stereotyping of African Americans, and institutional discrimination. Following the twentieth anniversary of the Los Angeles uprising, this time period allows reflection on the shifting state of race in America, considering these stark realities as well as the election of the country's first black president, a growing African American middle class, and the black authors and artists significantly contributing to America's cultural output. Divided into six sections, (The African American Criminal in Culture and Media; Slave Voices and Bodies in Poetry and Plays; Representing African American Gender and Sexuality in Pop-Culture and Society; Black Cultural Production in Music and Dance; Obama and the Politics of Race; and Ongoing Realities and the Meaning of 'Blackness') this book is an engaging collection of chapters, varied in critical content and theoretical standpoints, linked by their intellectual stimulation and fascination with African American life, and questioning how and to what extent American culture and society is 'past' race. The chapters are united by an intertwined sense of progression and regression which addresses the diverse dynamics of continuity and change that have defined shifts in the African American experience over the past twenty years.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|47 pages
The African American Criminal in Culture and Media
chapter 2|16 pages
From Deflection to Deconstruction
part II|41 pages
Slave Voices and Bodies in Poetry and Plays
chapter 3|16 pages
Of Diggin' and Fakin'
part III|49 pages
Representing African American Gender and Sexuality in Pop-Culture and Society
part IV|53 pages
Black Cultural Production in Music and Dance
chapter 8|18 pages
Popularizing African American History and Culture through Dance
part V|55 pages
Obama and the Politics of Race
chapter 12|16 pages
“Not One of Us”
part VI|35 pages
Ongoing Realities and the Meaning of “Blackness”