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“A Kind of Truth”: Black Women's Queer Desires in Post-Civil Rights

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“A Kind of Truth”: Black Women's Queer Desires in Post-Civil Rights Touching History to Find “a Kind of Truth”: Black Women’s Queer Desires in Post-Civil Rights Literature, Film, and Music Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By John Brendan Shaw Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Martin Joseph Ponce, PhD (Adviser) Andrèa N. Williams, PhD (Committee Member) Debra Moddelmog, PhD (Committee Member) Copyrighted by J. Brendan Shaw 2016 Abstract Drawing on Black feminist thought, queer theory, and queer of color critique, Touching History argues that Black women in the Post-Civil Rights era have employed diverse technologies in order to produce fictionalized narratives which counter the neoliberal imperative to forget the past. Black feminist and queer theorists have described the potential for artistic imaginings to address gaps in the historical record and Touching History follows this line of theory. Touching History examines an archive of Black women’s cultural productions since the 1970s which includes novels, short stories, essays, experimental video film, digital music videos and visual albums. Reading across these diverse media and genres, this project considers how Black women have made use of the affordances of specific technologies in order to tell stories which may be fictional yet reveal “a kind of truth” about the embodied and affective experiences of the past. These mediated images and narratives serve as extensions of their bodies that push against static ideas of the Black female body. Whether it’s the image in a film or video, or the digital avatar presented through social media, Touching History argues these representations are intimately linked to the corporeal presence of the Black female artist. Alongside technologies of the video camera and the digital camera, this project also considers other embodied technologies of expression including sadomasochism and the book and considers how these also provide a means for Black women to touch history. ii Examining the novels of Thulani Davis and Marci Blackman, the short fiction of Alice Walker, the experimental films of Cheryl Dunye, and music videos created by singers Erykah Badu and Beyoncé, this project examines the expression of queer desires by Black women. In this project “queer” is not synonymous with gay and lesbian or same-sex desires, although it may at times be used to describe them. Queer desires in this project also include the desire to excavate and speak to the past in a society that prizes forward looking progress narratives, the desire to speak to the dead and not let them lapse into oblivion, the desire to center one’s marginalized self in a work of art, and the desire to resist labels (including that of “lesbian”). When this project describes Black women as touching history (a phrase taken up explicitly in chapter 1) this describes a queer relationship to personal and historical time. Black women’s queer relationship to time in these texts denies this normative desire to bury the past or claim it is something we have moved beyond (as in narratives of progress after the freedom struggles of the 1960s and 1970s). iii To my family (Mary, Michael, Chris, Kate, Mickey, Riddhi) for teaching me how to imagine and love in a queer future iv Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been possible without the constant support and guidance of my dissertation adviser Joe Ponce. Joe pushed me to make my political and academic commitments clear and urgent. He provided incisive edits, a kind ear to my frustrations and writing ennui, and has a wicked wit. Universities may be bureaucratic neoliberal tools but Joe helped me navigate the business of the PhD without every sugarcoating it. My other committee members Andréa Williams and Debra Moddelmog inspired me through their teaching, departmental service, and academic rigor, and serve as models for my own academic future. During my time in the English Department I had the good fortune to also learn from Molly Farrell, Koritha Mitchell, Jared Gardener and other exceptional professors. Lynn Mie Itagaki’s publication seminar was responsible for my first publication; Lynn’s willingness to help me shepherd my article through the academic publication process and her transparency about her own writing progress have been instrumental in my development as a scholar. The English Department administrative staff, especially Kathleen Griffin, helped make my five years working on this project move smoothly. Kathleen’s broad knowledge of the university’s workings, paired with her kindness and warmth, helped me survive many a bureaucratic headache. The English Department also provided me with a Two Chapter fellowship for Spring 2016 which helped me complete this project. The seeds for this project were sown long ago during my undergraduate work at the University of Kansas where I worked with exceptional faculty who turned me on to critical race studies, feminist thought and queer theory. Marta Caminero-Santangelo, Katie Conrad, Giselle Anatol, v and Anna Neill all helped me figure out how exactly theory worked. Mary Klayder was my adviser at KU and she is responsible for guiding me on the path to graduate school. She knew my future long before I did. During my Master’s in OSU’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program I had the privilege to be advised by Rebecca Wanzo. Rebecca is not only an exceptional scholar in Black feminist cultural studies, she’s also been a no-nonsense champion for me and I continue to value her input and ideas on everything, including Serena Williams. While in the Women’s Studies program, I also worked with other phenomenal faculty including Shannon Winnubst, Linda Mizejewksi, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu. Shannon’s courses brought queer theory and theories of difference to life in ways that dance across this project. Dr. Elaine Richardson offered me constant love and support both in her class and in her expert work with the Hip Hop Literacies Conference. Throughout my graduate school career, I have had strong support networks – especially my MA cohort who helped me survive my crash course in how to be a graduate student. Taneem Husain, Andrea Breau, Nicole Engel, Tracey Hurt Fox, Skylar Brez, Jessica Winck, Lindsay Robertson and Varsha Chitnis were allies in the process of navigating academia and finding a balance between our political feminist selves and our academic futures. Taneem has been with me – as a roommate, as a study date, as a confidante, as a digital presence, as an editor, as another kind of sister – from the beginning to the end. She’s the one who tells me I can do this and she’s the one who supports me with laughter, Long Island iced tea, and dance parties. Completing this dissertation brings us closer to our plan to have offices next to each other someday. During my PhD I have also found queer family inside and beyond the English department. Cyrus Hampton, Sonnet Gabbard (and her menagerie), John Slefinger, Pritha Prasad, Alex Harlig, vi Raena Shirali, Tyler Adams, Josh Kertzer, and Branden “Breezy” Ballard have in their various ways been there for me when I needed to jabber on wildly about theory or needed a hug or needed someone to take me out for a wild time. Tiffany Salter is my rock within the English Department – someone whose chill and levelheadedness and ability to call shenanigans on the world warms my heart. Daniel T. O’Brien (and his poetry), Paige Quiñones (and her husband), Ayendy Bonifacio, Nina Yun, Gwenyth Cullen, Kate Norris, Rebecca Turkewitz, Lauren Barett, Beth Avila, Indya Jackson, Jacinta Yanders, Joey Kim, Beth Avila, and all of the #onlyin461 crew and so many others helped me survive and thrive in graduate school. Toni Calbert and Krupal Amin responded to my work and kept me on task (or helped me avoid work). Even time zones away my Linguistics crew (Cindy Johnson, Katie Carmichael, Marivic Lesho) keeps me sane, answers my random queries, and has the perfect sticker ready. Brandon Manning, Anne Mitchell, Anne Jansen, Meg LeMay, Colleen Kennedy, Julia Istomina, and Christopher Lewis have provided mentorship in how to be academics (and how to be not academics and happy with it) and also are just complete badasses. Megan Reid told me to listen Nicki Minaj seven years ago and for that I thank her. She also sent me an advance copy of Grace Jones’s memoir (which opens this whole dissertation). Once six years ago she took me out for tea and told me to get excited about something (because I was in a deep funk about not doing what made me happy) and so I did. She’s the real MVP. Lastly, thanks to all the Black women artists, singers, writers, thinkers who made this possible. vii Vita 2004 ...............................................................Milwaukee High School of the Arts 2008................................................................B.A. English, University of Kansas 2010 …………………………………………M.A. Women’s Studies, The Ohio State University 2011-Present ................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University Publications “‘I don’t wanna time travel no mo’: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Replacement in Erykah Badu’s ‘Window Seat.’” Feminist Formations 27.2 (2015): 49-69. Fields of Study Major Field: English viii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments
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