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White Negroes : when cornrows were in vogue ... and other thoughts on cultural appropriation / Lauren Michele Jackson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Boston, Massachusetts : Beacon Press, [2019]Description: 187 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780807011805
  • 0807011800
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction : Appropriation and American mythmaking -- The pop star : swinging and singing -- The cover girl : blackness, groundbreaking -- The artist : a dead boy made art -- The hipster : the new white Negro -- The meme : Kermit the Frog meets Nina Simone -- The viral star : opposite from stardom -- The chef : America's whiteface mammy -- The entrepreneur : a bit free -- The activist : the time for anger -- Conclusion: Business as usual.
Summary: "This book provides a cultural, political, and social survey through the most American of pastimes that continues to thrive today. With narrative, accessible criticism, research, and popular cultural touchstones we can all recognize, I'd like to introduce readers to the black presence that holds up daily life as they know it. It is a crucial account of the people, stories, and culture that create the hilarious, crazy wonder that is life in the 21st century. It is also a wake up call. White Negroes wants to peel open still beating heart of interracial antagonism in this country and expose a form of theft that feels natural only because we are used to it. But we don't have to be. This book documents how this very old tradition shapes our society in the present in the hopes that we can imagine something better. White Negroes will transform what readers think they know about race and culture in the new millennium and open the door to a new present and future unburdened by crimes of the past"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 306.0973 J13 Available 33111009561602
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In White Negroes , cultural commentator, essayist, and scholar Lauren Michele Jackson explores trends started in Black communities that have caught on and become cool, hugely popular and lucrative, but that exclude Black communities once mainstream audiences and mainstream dollars latch on. The consequences of this phenomenon can be easy to miss, as it is so ingrained in our consumer habits. Yet over and over, Black intellectual property is converted into white profit - one hashtag, hair style, music genre, and dance move at a time. This, Jackson argues, plays a role in keeping Black people from achieving economic, political, and social equity.

Weaving together media scholarship and cultural critique, Jackson re-situates cultural appropriation as more than just a new buzzword. It is, she contends, simply another chapter in the long history of whiteness thriving at the expense, stolen labor and ingenuity of Black people. Further, her interrogation and exposure of the interracial antagonism resting on the other side of appropriation unravels behavior that feels normal only because it is common.

Piercing, audacious, and bursting with pop-culture touchstones, White Negroes introduces a bold new voice in Jackson. Her debut is both a love letter to the creativity of Black folks and an urgent call for more thoughtful consumption by those who consider themselves "allies."

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction : Appropriation and American mythmaking -- The pop star : swinging and singing -- The cover girl : blackness, groundbreaking -- The artist : a dead boy made art -- The hipster : the new white Negro -- The meme : Kermit the Frog meets Nina Simone -- The viral star : opposite from stardom -- The chef : America's whiteface mammy -- The entrepreneur : a bit free -- The activist : the time for anger -- Conclusion: Business as usual.

"This book provides a cultural, political, and social survey through the most American of pastimes that continues to thrive today. With narrative, accessible criticism, research, and popular cultural touchstones we can all recognize, I'd like to introduce readers to the black presence that holds up daily life as they know it. It is a crucial account of the people, stories, and culture that create the hilarious, crazy wonder that is life in the 21st century. It is also a wake up call. White Negroes wants to peel open still beating heart of interracial antagonism in this country and expose a form of theft that feels natural only because we are used to it. But we don't have to be. This book documents how this very old tradition shapes our society in the present in the hopes that we can imagine something better. White Negroes will transform what readers think they know about race and culture in the new millennium and open the door to a new present and future unburdened by crimes of the past"-- Provided by publisher.

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