Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads

by Lester, Neal A.; Goggin, Maureen Daly; Harris, Trudier; Richard, Thelma; Riedell, Karyn; Ross, James D.; Stallings, L H.; Webb, Patricia; Wilson, Charles, Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780739122075
• ISBN10: 073912207X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-17
• Publisher: LEXINGTON BOOKS

Summary

In their search for a relationship, whether long- or short-term, how do desiring subjects signify their identities and those of their desiring subjects? The essays in Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads take up this question by exploring how writers of personal ads fashion themselves and those with whom they seek a connection. More specifically, these essays explore the politics of desire'¬ ;how complex intersections among the social categories of race, gender and sexuality within personal ads reveal a dynamic tapestry of power relations and hierarchies. By focusing on how, in each instance, African Americans both construct and are constructed discursively in the brief narrative space of personals, this collection offers a substantively new genre-based exploration of the politics of desire and makes an important contribution to studies of language and self; identity politics; cultural studies; gendered, sexualized and racialized discourses; and the performance of everyday texts that occupy scholarly attention in a variety of different disciplines. Those interested in American Cultural Studies, African American Studies, Sociology, Communication, Rhetoric, Queer Studies, Critical Race Theory, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, and Race Relations on a professional or lay basis will find this book informative and engaging.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction : trapped in lines and language : distorted selves in personal ads	p. 1
"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" : constructions of heterosexual black male identities in the personals	p. 7
In living color : politics of desire in heterosexual interracial black/white personal ads	p. 37
Black gay men seeking black gay men : cultural and historical implications	p. 77
Personal ads and the intersection of race and same-sex male attraction	p. 97
SBF seeks Miss Afrekete : authenticity, erasure, and same-sex desire in the personals	p. 113
Ethnic chasers, Auntie Toms, and e(gal)itarians : black females seeking and being sought by white females	p. 139
"The 21st century option to meet and socialize" : discursive constructions of black heterosexual male identities in match.com	p. 171
Afterword	p. 191
Index	p. 195
Contributors	p. 205
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