The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Johnson, Lakesia Denise
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2008
Subjects:	Womens Studies Women's Studies Black Studies Black Women Film Studies Visual Culture Popular Culture
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1213127495

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu12131274952021-08-03T05:53:50Z The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice Johnson, Lakesia Denise Womens Studies Women's Studies Black Studies Black Women Film Studies Visual Culture Popular Culture <p>My project investigates the ways that the representation of Black female revolutionary activists during the 1970s produced images and narratives of justice that have informed the artistic work of Black women over the past 30 years. My analysis begins with Black revolutionary icons, Angela Davis and Kathleen Cleaver, and the various historical discourses that informed the circulation, consumption and meaning of their images. Photographic images of these prominent Black female activists circulated in the sixties and seventies and produced important narratives about the primacy of Black male experience as representative of the Black liberation struggle. They also contributed to the mythological, Amazonian image of Black womanhood that developed into filmic images in blaxploitation films, featuring actresses like Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson. These films reflected anxieties about gender, race and sexuality.</p><p>My analysis of visual images of icons such as Davis and Grier are linked to a legacy of revolutionary Black feminist rhetoric, representation and critique that continued in the literature of Black women in the eighties. Revolutionary imagery and Black feminist rhetoric embedded in the work of Black female writers and poets, such as Alice Walker and Audre Lorde, provided a space for a more complex and nuanced articulation of Black female revolutionary womanhood. More specifically, their use of the image of the Amazon and the willingness of Lorde and Walker to explore a Black female experience that included both strength and vulnerability were crucial to the development and visual articulation of revolution that emerged in work of Black women in the early nineties. </p><p>The work of Black female artists such as Erykah Badu and Me'shell Ndegéocello are examples of the ways that young Black female musicians have appropriated and rearticulated Black feminist revolutionary rhetoric, iconography and aesthetics from the 1970s to explore what it means to be a Black female revolutionary. Through an analysis of the visual aspects of performances by Badu and Ndegéocello, my research illuminates the multiple ways that images of Black female revolutionaries continue to play a key role in the articulation of Black feminist liberation politics.</p> 2008-09-05 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1213127495 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1213127495 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Womens Studies Women's Studies Black Studies Black Women Film Studies Visual Culture Popular Culture
spellingShingle	Womens Studies Women's Studies Black Studies Black Women Film Studies Visual Culture Popular Culture Johnson, Lakesia Denise The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice
author	Johnson, Lakesia Denise
author_facet	Johnson, Lakesia Denise
author_sort	Johnson, Lakesia Denise
title	The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice
title_short	The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice
title_full	The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice
title_fullStr	The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice
title_full_unstemmed	The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice
title_sort	iconography of the black female revolutionary and new narratives of justice
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2008
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1213127495
work_keys_str_mv	AT johnsonlakesiadenise theiconographyoftheblackfemalerevolutionaryandnewnarrativesofjustice AT johnsonlakesiadenise iconographyoftheblackfemalerevolutionaryandnewnarrativesofjustice
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The Iconography of the Black Female Revolutionary and New Narratives of Justice

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