Nina Collins
Francis does a masterful job reconciling all the threads of Josephine Baker's public role as we've known it thus far—the amusing, the carnal, the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture—and takes us deeper into a lush exploration of how race, gender, and entertainment play out in the African diaspora. A hugely important contribution to the world of Film and Performance Studies, as well as World Black History and Gender Studies.
Jacqueline Stewart]]>
Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism explores Baker's films with unprecedented attention to details of production, reception, and Baker's performances and screen aspirations. Terri Francis does not choose sides, or situate Baker in an irresolvable tension between exploited exotic and self-determined artist. Instead, Francis reads Baker's cinematic work as the most significant, dynamic expression of her multifaceted aesthetic, in which she continually refracted imaginaries of race and gender, colonialism and Black success, through her screen labor and image.
Kaiama L. Glover]]>
With Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism Terri Francis has given us a Baker like we have not seen – or appreciated – her before. Approached with keen insight and enormous empathy, Francis's Baker comes into focus as a fascinating collection of moving parts, no cipher for the modern world but constitutive of it. Francis has captured and eloquently theorized Baker's ambivalent being – fragmented and composite, powerful and vulnerable, connected to the Black performing women who came before her and yet entirely, dazzlingly original unto herself.
Katherine Groo]]>
Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism deftly grapples with the difficult task of writing a history of Josephine Baker, one of the most important and enigmatic performers of the twentieth century. Terri Francis's prismatic approach demands that we recognize Baker's creative agency and autonomy, on the one hand, and her evasive play with shadows, disappearances, and opacity, on the other. This book makes a crucial contribution not only to the study of Josephine Baker and cinematic stardom, but also to any understanding of the historical task of writing the lives of others.
Kaiama L. Glover
With Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism Terri Francis has given us a Baker like we have not seen – or appreciated – her before. Approached with keen insight and enormous empathy, Francis's Baker comes into focus as a fascinating collection of moving parts, no cipher for the modern world but constitutive of it. Francis has captured and eloquently theorized Baker's ambivalent being – fragmented and composite, powerful and vulnerable, connected to the Black performing women who came before her and yet entirely, dazzlingly original unto herself.
Nina Collins]]>
Francis does a masterful job reconciling all the threads of Josephine Baker's public role as we've known it thus far—the amusing, the carnal, the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture—and takes us deeper into a lush exploration of how race, gender, and entertainment play out in the African diaspora. A hugely important contribution to the world of Film and Performance Studies, as well as World Black History and Gender Studies.
Jacqueline Stewart
Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism explores Baker's films with unprecedented attention to details of production, reception, and Baker's performances and screen aspirations. Terri Francis does not choose sides, or situate Baker in an irresolvable tension between exploited exotic and self-determined artist. Instead, Francis reads Baker's cinematic work as the most significant, dynamic expression of her multifaceted aesthetic, in which she continually refracted imaginaries of race and gender, colonialism and Black success, through her screen labor and image.
Katherine Groo
Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism deftly grapples with the difficult task of writing a history of Josephine Baker, one of the most important and enigmatic performers of the twentieth century. Terri Francis's prismatic approach demands that we recognize Baker's creative agency and autonomy, on the one hand, and her evasive play with shadows, disappearances, and opacity, on the other. This book makes a crucial contribution not only to the study of Josephine Baker and cinematic stardom, but also to any understanding of the historical task of writing the lives of others.
