Reappropriation as Contestation
Reconstructing Images of Black Women in Kate Rushin’s The Black Back-Ups
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11272770 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carol Bailey (0000-0002-2734-4060, Westfield State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 177-199 |
| Publication date | 2017-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | MELUS Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0163-755X • E-ISSN: 1946-3170 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/melus/mlx034 |
| OpenAlex | W2618635000 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
Given the persistence of stereotypical portrayals of black women in the media, artistic representations, and the broader American culture, it is not surprising that contesting such representations remains a central feature of writings by African American authors in general and African American women writers in particular. In light of this enduring concern, one important question that also persists is how creative writers can productively engage with stereotypes in ways that effectively disavow flat and incomplete characterizations of black women, even as these writers embrace the shared features of the groups they represent and recognize the importance of markers of group identities. Speaking of the way creative writers in particular may be challenged to treat “minority” subjects, Carrie Tirado Bramen notes, “One of the most difficult challenges confronting writers, and particularly minority writers, is how to represent ethnic and racialized characters without resorting to stereotypes.” Arguing for the usefulness of “identity tropes” in giving “an ethnic group a degree of cultural and textual visibility,” Bramen also acknowledges the danger of easily slipping into what she terms “tiresome predictability,” further showing how realistic portrayals provide only partial protection “from accusations of stereotyping” (124).
Aesthetics · Art · Ethnic group · Identity (music) · Sociology · American and British Literature Analysis · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Media, Gender, and Advertising
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |