Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara Walker
Through a close reading of Walker’s first silhouette instalment-the audaciously titled Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as it Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart (1994)-this article examines how Walker utilises black camp to undermine both white supremacist...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2017-12-01
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| Series: | Open Cultural Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2017-0059 |
| _version_ | 1818880497063821312 |
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| author | Stephens Brian |
| author_facet | Stephens Brian |
| author_sort | Stephens Brian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Through a close reading of Walker’s first silhouette instalment-the audaciously titled Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as it Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart (1994)-this article examines how Walker utilises black camp to undermine both white supremacist and restrictive black uplift discourse. To be sure, the article is not an attempt to conflate these two, for the former is powerfully worse than the latter. However, it is necessary to explore how both discourses reinforce essentialist articulations of blackness and also to examine how black camp is a provocative analytic for their simultaneous disruption. Camp is usually understood as a queer-derived cultural practice that inflates identity to expose the constructed nature of gender. However, this article shows that black articulations of camp inflate identity to demonstrate the fiction of race as well. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T14:46:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0cba2d3026404b1f9da467193987ed66 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2451-3474 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T14:46:54Z |
| publishDate | 2017-12-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Cultural Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-0cba2d3026404b1f9da467193987ed662022-12-21T20:16:56ZengDe GruyterOpen Cultural Studies2451-34742017-12-011164665910.1515/culture-2017-0059culture-2017-0059Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara WalkerStephens Brian0Ethnic studies, University of California Riverside, 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521, USAThrough a close reading of Walker’s first silhouette instalment-the audaciously titled Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as it Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart (1994)-this article examines how Walker utilises black camp to undermine both white supremacist and restrictive black uplift discourse. To be sure, the article is not an attempt to conflate these two, for the former is powerfully worse than the latter. However, it is necessary to explore how both discourses reinforce essentialist articulations of blackness and also to examine how black camp is a provocative analytic for their simultaneous disruption. Camp is usually understood as a queer-derived cultural practice that inflates identity to expose the constructed nature of gender. However, this article shows that black articulations of camp inflate identity to demonstrate the fiction of race as well.https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2017-0059black studiesqueer theoryvisual studies |
| spellingShingle | Stephens Brian Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara Walker Open Cultural Studies black studies queer theory visual studies |
| title | Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara Walker |
| title_full | Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara Walker |
| title_fullStr | Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara Walker |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara Walker |
| title_short | Prissy’s Quittin’ Time: The Black Camp Aesthetics of Kara Walker |
| title_sort | prissy s quittin time the black camp aesthetics of kara walker |
| topic | black studies queer theory visual studies |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2017-0059 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stephensbrian prissysquittintimetheblackcampaestheticsofkarawalker |