Cultural studies as praxis: (making) an autobiographical case

This autobiographical essay ‘takes cultural studies personally’, drawing on experience, identity and the personal to indicate how and why the author is proponent of and is working on developing a model of cultural studies as social justice praxis despite the constraints academia in general and of the university as an institution in particular. The paper travels roughly from the author’s student and teacher days in Sierra Leone through his graduate student days in Canada to his current role as university teacher in the USA. He selectively concentrates on his experience as a teacher of literature (and African multi-role utilitarianism), education and cultural studies (using one of his cultural studies courses and students’ questions about the utility of cultural studies as example), his shifting and overlapping racial/ethnic identities (African/black) and the politics of identity, and his thoughts on the place of theory in cultural studies and a black approach to theory (black ambivalent elaboration) as contributory factors. While this account acts in its own way as an argument for conceptualizing cultural studies as praxis, the primary focus is more modestly on my own autobiographical account as a specific case. In fact, an autobiographical approach is employed precisely to be specific and in the attempt to avoid the pitfalls of over­generalization and the authority of authenticity.     

‘NOTHING POWERFUL LIKE WORDS SPOKEN’

This article examines the rhetorical techniques black British female rap artists appropriate and manipulate when they compose and perform their songs. To this end, this work probes how they explore female agency and respond to political, race, class and gender inequity in their compositions. In all, this discussion corrects the virtual absence of black British female rap emcees from transatlantic discourses by offering a close reading of the hip-hop narratives written and/or performed by Shystie, Tor Cesay, Speech Debelle and Ms. Dynamite.     

‘Race isn't what defines me’: exploring identity choices in transracial,biracial, and monoracial families

Transracial adoption [TRA], particularly the adoption of black children by white parents, has been a controversial issue in the United States for more than half a century. Much of the criticism surrounding transracial adoption has dealt with concerns that black children raised in white homes will fail to develop a positive black identity. Such critiques are often based on assumptions about the identity of black children raised by their biological parents, yet studies of transracial adoption rarely address identity development struggles experienced by black children raised in black homes. Moreover, while the race of parents in relation to children is at the center of the transracial adoption debate, TRA studies rarely delve into socialization practices of biracial families headed by one white and one black parent. This study addresses a void in the literature by examining the experiences of young black adults whose parents may or may not be of the same race. The impact of varying racialized family structures on black identity development is examined by comparing the experiences of young black adults raised in families with two black parents (monoracial), one white and one black parent (biracial), and two white parents (transracial). Drawing from 32 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with middle-class young black adults between the ages of 18 and 30 years old, findings indicate that all informants, regardless of racialized family structure, approach racial identity development similarly by de-emphasizing the ascribed status of race in favor of achieved statuses as part of the identity construction process.     

寻找民族之‘根”——评《托妮?莫里森白饵所罗门之歌》

在<所罗门之歌>中,作者试图寻找一条适合美国黑人的发展道路.作为美国黑人民族的一个象征,主人公"奶人"被置于各种力量的牵引之中,面临着艰难的选择:父亲梅肯·戴德的追求金钱之路,好友吉他的复仇之路和姑妈彼拉多的传统之路.他最终的选择表达了作者的观点:黑人民族应该立足于本民族的传统文化,在民族传统中寻求信心和力量,从而找到一条民族自强的道路.     

枯萎凋谢的玫瑰——《所罗门之歌》中女性人物悲剧命运解读

《所罗门之歌》是美国黑人女作家托尼·莫瑞森的第三部作品。小说在讲述主人公奶娃道德成长历程的同时,对同奶娃有着密切关系的四个女性人物（母亲露丝,姐姐莉娜和科林西安丝以及情人哈格尔）的悲剧人生进行了描写。本文旨在对她们遭受的性别歧视和种族压迫的悲剧命运进行解读,揭示黑人女性只有获得物质上和精神上的独立并以本民族文化作为立身之本,才能赢得自身的解放。     

艺术视野中的俄汉“黑”、“白”文化世界图景

俄汉民族的戏剧、绘画、书法、雕塑等艺术中黑、白颜色的运用遵循俄汉民族各自不同的色彩观,深刻体现出东西方文化世界图景各自的精彩。     

对短篇小说《外婆的日用家当》的人物解读

分析了艾丽斯·沃克的短篇小说《外婆的日用家当》中三位黑人女性的人物形象,认为她们因其鲜明的特征而具有典型的代表性,并探讨了黑人文化遗产的归属问题。     

在中心与边缘之间挣扎的黑色命运——以盖茨的理论构建解读莫里森的小说《宠儿》

盖茨认为黑人文学理论体系的建立必须依据黑人文本特性对认定的中心理论话语加以质疑、梳理、颠覆和修正.而莫里森在小说<宠儿>中对黑色命运的艺术表现手法与盖茨的文学理论建构不谋而合地颠覆了主流中心话语的权威性,弥补了西方文学理论和评判模式构建中的空白.     

召唤应答 ——谈《宠儿》的叙事策略

美国作家莫里森的第七部小说《宠儿》讲述了南方重建时期,已成为自由人的黑奴重建自我身份的故事。黑人民族特有的艺术形式和重要文化密码——“召唤应答”,作为小说的主要叙事策略,赋予了作品深刻的文化内涵。小说中的人物通过"召唤应答",踏上了一条回归自我,捍卫黑人主体性和尊严的道路;而小说作者则借助于同样的文化密码,开始了她回归非洲传统文化的征程。无论是在语言运用上还是在叙事技巧上,我们都可以从《宠儿》中看到莫里森与黑人本土文化的契合点,而本民族的文化意识更是植入了她灵魂深处。