Race and the Subject of Masculinities

by Stecopoulos, Harry; Uebel, Michael; Pease, Donald E.; Dollimore, Jonathan (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780822319665
• ISBN10: 0822319667
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-12-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Although in recent years scholars have explored the cultural construction of masculinity, they have largely ignored the ways in which masculinity intersects with other categories of identity, particularly those of race and ethnicity. The essays inRace and the Subject of Masculinitiesaddress this concern and focus on the social construction of masculinity-black, white, ethnic, gay, and straight-in terms of the often complex and dynamic relationships among these inseparable categories. Discussing a wide range of subjects including the inherent homoeroticism of martial-arts cinema, the relationship between working-class ideologies and Elvis impersonators, the emergence of a gay, black masculine aesthetic in the works of James Van der Zee and Robert Mapplethorpe, and the comedy of Richard Pryor,Race and the Subject of Masculinitiesprovides a variety of opportunities for thinking about how race, sexuality, and "manhood" are reinforced and reconstituted in todayrs"s society. Editors Harry Stecopoulos and Michael Uebel have gathered together essays that make clear how the formation of masculine identity is never as obvious as it might seem to be. Examining personas as varied as Eddie Murphy, Bruce Lee, Tarzan, Malcolm X, and Andre Gideacute;, these essays draw on feminist critique and queer theory to demonstrate how cross-identification through performance and spectatorship among men of different races and cultural backgrounds has served to redefine masculinity in contemporary culture. By taking seriously the role of race in the making of men,Race and the Subject of Masculinitiesoffers an important challenge to the new studies of masculinity.Contributors.Herman Beavers, Jonathan Dollimore, Richard Dyer, Robin D. G. Kelly, Christopher Looby, Leerom Medovoi, Eric Lott, Deborah E. McDowell, Joseacute; E. Muntilde;oz, Harry Stecopoulos, Yvonne Tasker, Michael Uebel, Gayle Wald, Robyn Wiegman

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Men in Color: Introducing Race and the Subject of Masculinities

Reading Men, Reading Race

Desire and Difference: Homosexuality, Race, Masculinity

Fiedler and Sons

White Like Who?

"As Thoroughly Black as the Most Faithful Philanthropist Could Desire": Erotics of Race in Higginson's Army Life in a Black Regiment

Mezz Mezzrow and the Voluntary Negro Blues

Reading the Blackboard: Youth, Masculinity, and Racial Cross-Identification

The World According to Normal Bean: Edgar Rice Burroughs's Popular Culture

Visualizing Race and the Subject of Masculinities

The Riddle of the Zoot: Malcolm Little and Black Cultural Politics during World War II

"The Cool Pose": Intersectionality, Masculinity, and Quiescence in the Comedy and Films of Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy

The White Man's Muscles

Fists of Fury: Discourses of Race and Masculinity in the Martial Arts Cinema

Photographies of Mourning: Melancholia and Ambivalence in Van Der Zee, Mapplethorpe, and Looking for Langston

Coming After

Pecs and Reps: Muscling in on Race and the Subject of Masculinities

Works Cited

Index

Contributors

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