The Michael Eric Dyson Reader

by Dyson, Michael Eric

• ISBN13: 9780465017713
• ISBN10: 0465017711
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-01
• Publisher: Civitas Books

Summary

Acclaimed for his writing on Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Tupac Shakur, and many more, Michael Eric Dyson has emerged as the leading African-American intellectual of his generation. This collection gathers the best of Dyson's vast and growing body of work from the last several years: his most incisive commentary, the most stirring passages, and the sharpest, most probing and broadminded critical analyses. From Michael Jordan to the role of religion in public life, from Toni Morrison to patriotism in the wake of 9/11, the mastery and ease with which Dyson tackles just about any subject of relevance to black America today is without parallel.

Author Biography

Michael Eric Dyson, named by Ebony as one of the hundred most influential black Americans, is the author of sixteen books, including Holler if You Hear Me, Is Bill Cosby Right? and I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr. He is currently University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Preface	xvii
Introduction: Why I Am an Intellectual	xix
I Dysonography
Not from Some Zeus's Head: My Intellectual Development	3	(16)
Letter to My Brother, Everett, in Prison	19	(13)
This I Believe	32	(5)
II Theories of Race
The Liberal Theory of Race	37	(9)
When You're a Credit to Your Race, the Bill Will Come Due: O.J. Simpson and Our Trial by Fire	46	(23)
III Affirmative Action
Debating Affirmative Action	69	(17)
A Reprieve for Affirmative Action	86	(5)
IV Multiculturalism
Leonard Jeffries and the Struggle for the Black Mind	91	(5)
Shakespeare and Smokey Robinson: Revisiting the Culture Wars	96	(11)
V Whiteness Studies
The Labor of Whiteness, the Whiteness of Labor, and the Perils of Whitewishing	107	(6)
Giving Whiteness a Black Eye	113	(24)
VI Gender Views
The Plight of Black Men	137	(10)
Another Saturday Night, or Have All the Brothers Gone to White Women?	147	(20)
In O.J.'s Shadow: Kobe Bryant's Predicament	167	(6)
VII Afro-Baptist Radicalism and Rhetoric
``God Almighty Has Spoken from Washington, D.C.'': American Society and Christian Faith	173	(19)
Gardner Taylor: The Poet Laureate of the American Pulpit	192	(10)
``Somewhere I Read of the Freedom of Speech'': Constructing a Unique Voice	202	(17)
VIII Religion and Sexuality
When You Divide Body and Soul, Problems Multiply: The Black Church and Sexuality	219	(19)
Homotextualities: The Bible, Sexual Ethics, and the Theology of Homoeroticism	238	(23)
IX Biocriticism and Black Icons
X Marks the Plots: A Critical Reading of Malcolm's Readers	261	(26)
Mixed Blessings: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Lessons of an Ambiguous Heroism	287	(19)
``Give Me a Paper and Pen'': Tupac's Place in Hip-Hop	306	(21)
X Cinema Noir
Spike Lee's Neonationalist Vision	327	(7)
Between Apocalypse and Redemption: John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood	334	(15)
Ghettocentricity and the New Black Cinema	349	(14)
XI The Soul Musics of Black Folk
The Promise and Perils of Contemporary Gospel Music	363	(4)
Mariah Carey and ``Authentic'' Black Music	367	(3)
Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and Me	370	(6)
The Great Next: Jazz Origins and the Anatomy of Improvisation	376	(25)
XII Hip-Hop Culture
The Culture of Hip-Hop	401	(10)
Gangsta Rap and American Culture	411	(7)
We Never Were What We Used to Be: Black Youth, Pop Culture, and the Politics of Nostalgia	418	(25)
XIII The Predicament of Postmodernity
Michael Jackson's Postmodern Spirituality	443	(18)
Be Like Mike? Michael Jordan and the Pedagogy of Desire	461	(8)
Is Postmodernism Just Modernism in Drag?	469	(24)
XIV Coda: The Life of the Mind
It's Not What You Know, It's How You Show It: Black Public Intellectuals	493	(18)
Notes	511	(22)
Credits	533	(2)
Index	535