Signifyin(g), Sanctifyin' and Slam Dunking: A Reader in African American Expressive Culture - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155849183X ISBN 13: 9781558491830

Verlag: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999

Inhaltsangabe

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Críticas

Despite the recent flourishing of seminal and influential works in African-American literary theory, cultural studies, and cultural history, there exists no single book that offers interpretive readings of African-American expressive culture across disciplinary boundaries that is viable as an undergraduate text. I most certainly would order this collection for my class.--John Gennari, University of Virginia This is the Golden Age of African-American cultural scholarship, and this anthology brings together some of the animating ideas and important documents out of which that scholarship has grown.--Roger D. Abrahams, author of Singing the Master: The Emergence of African American Culture in the Plantation South

Reseña del editor

Observers of American society have long noted the distinctive contribution of African Americans to the nation's cultural life. We find references to African American music and dance, black forms of oral expression, even a black style of playing basketball. But what do such terms really mean? Is it legitimate to talk about a distinct African American aesthetic, or is it simply a vestige of an outmoded racial essentialism? What makes a particular form of cultural expression ""black"", other than the fact that some African Americans may practice it? These are some of the questions addressed in the readings gathered in this volume. The essays spring from a variety of disciplines and cover a range of topics, from the communal ritual of the ring shout to the evolution of rap to the improvisational genius of Michael Jordan. While each piece focuses on a different aspect of African American expressive culture, together they seek to reveal a set of creative principles, techniques and practices - a cultural aesthetic - that is consistent and resilient.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Massachusetts Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1999
• ISBN 10: 155849183X
• ISBN 13: 9781558491830
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 464
• Herausgeber: Caponi Gena Dagel