Race-ing Masculinity: Identity in Contemporary U.S. Writings / Edition 1

by John Christopher Cunningham

Overview

This study explores the intersection of race and gender identity in writings by contemporary American men of color, showing how ostensibly sexist or homophobic texts coexist with or are engendered by articulations of anti-racism. Conversely, certain articulations of gender concerns produce reactionary ideas about race. The author examines Asian American identity in the works of Frank Chin, John Okada, and Shawn Hsu Wong, contending that these writers exhibit a strong masculinist/sexist bias, limiting their value for Asian American women and homosexuals. The author then looks at the work of African American writer Charles Johnson. He examines the conflict between feminism and male supremacy in Johnson's novels, tracing the relationship between this vision of gender and the conservatism of Johnson's approach to race issues. The author also considers the discourse of perverse sexuality with particular attention to the possibility of a countertradition of the joto, or queer in the canon of Chicano novels from Jose Antonio Villareal to Arturo Islas. Through an examination of the readings of Richard Rodriguez and Oscar Zeta Acosta, Cunningham demonstrates the interplay of homosocial sexual politics with Rodriguez and Acosta's respective conservative and revolutionary approaches to race. Finally, the study considers how claims about the universality of postmodern experience implicit in Don DeLillo's novel, White Noise, actually bear the particularizing marks of whiteness and masculinity. Includes index and bibliography

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415934763
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/28/2002
Series:	Studies in American Popular History and Culture
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Christopher Cunningham

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Chapter One: Introduction Chapter Two: 'This Thing Going With My Bride to Straighten Out in America' Chapter Three: Hegemony and the Broad Celebration of Charles Johnson Chapter Four: 'Hey, Mr. Liberace Will You Vote for Zeta?' Looking for the Joto in Chicano Men's Autobiographical Writing Chapter Five: 'His Complexion was of a Tone I Want to Call Flesh-Colored' Bibliography