Race and Respectability in an Early Black Atlantic examines the
means through which people of African descent embodied tenets of
respectability as a coping strategy to navigate enslavement and
racial oppression in the early Black Atlantic world. The term
"respectability politics" refers to the way members of a
minoritized population adopt the customs and manners of a dominant
culture in order to gain visibility and combat negative stereotypes
about their subject group. Today respectability politics can be
seen in how those within and outside Black communities police the
behavior of Black celebrities, critique protest movements, and
celebrate accomplishments by people of African descent who break
racial barriers. To study the origins of the complicated
relationship between race and respectability, Cassander L. Smith
shows that early American literatures reveal Black communities
engaging with issues of respectability from the very beginning of
the transatlantic slave trade. Concerns about character and
comportment influenced the literary production of Black Atlantic
communities, particularly in the long eighteenth century.
Uncovering the central importance of respectability as a theme
shaping the literary development of cultures throughout the early
Black Atlantic, Smith illuminates the mechanics of respectability
politics in a range of texts, including poetry, letters, and life
writing by Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, and expatriates on
the west coast of Africa in Sierra Leone. Through these early Black
texts, Race and Respectability in an Early Black Atlantic considers
respectability politics as a malleable strategy that has both
energized and suppressed Black cultures for centuries.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2023 |
Authors: |
Cassander L Smith
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
246 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-7979-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8071-7979-5 |
Barcode: |
9780807179796 |
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