Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: "Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire" Josephine Metcalf Canna Spaulding 1
Part I The African American Criminal in Culture and Media
1 "Ill Parallels": Ice-T, Iceberg Slim, and Portrait of a Pimp Will Turner 19
2 From Deflection to Deconstruction: The Transformation of Ishmael Reed's Satire in Juice! Jin Salamoun 49
Part II Slave Voices and Bodies in Poetry and Plays
3 Of Diggin' and Fakin': Historiopoiesis in Suzan-Lori Parks and Contemporary African American Culture Ilka Saal 67
4 Poetry in the Archive: Reimagining Amistad in Kevin Young's Ardency Carl Plasa 83
Part III Representing African American Gender and Sexuality in Pop-Culture and Society
5 (Dis)Robing Django Unchained: The Black Damsel in Distress as a Progressive Image Celeste Doaks 109
6 From Brandy to Beyoncé: Celebrity and the Black Haircare Industry Since 1992 Carina Spaulding 123
7 The Rebirth of Queer: Exile, Kinship, and Metamorphosis in Dee Rees's Pariah Aneeka A. Henderson 141
Part IV Black Cultural Production in Music and Dance
8 Popularizing African American History and Culture through Dance: The Ethics and Politics of the Artistic Visions of Alvin Alley and Judith Jamison Carmen Dexl 159
9 Breakbeat Syncretism: The Drum Sample in African American Popular Music Rowan Oliver 177
10 Twenty-First Century Blues: Treme, Jazz, and the Remaking of New Orleans Brian Jones 193
Part V Obama and the Politics of Race
11 The Wright Liability: Barack Obama's Response to Racial Controversy Malalina Stalniceanu 213
12 "Not One of Us": Barack Obama, the "Paranoid Style," and the Polarization of American Politics Kevern Verney 229
13 A Double Edged Sword: Ebony Magazine and the 2008 Obama Campaign James West 245
Part VI Ongoing Realities and the Meaning of "Blackness"
14 Being Afraid of "Post-Blackness": What's Neoliberalism Got to Do With It? Marlon Lieber 269
15 Art in the Age of "New Jim Crow": Delimiting the Scope of Racial Justice and Black Film Production since Rodney King Jonathan Munby 283
Afterword John Oldfield 303
Index 309