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Zack Whitman Gill UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Using the master's tools : representations of blackness and the strategies of stereotype Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4fn0m2sj Author Zygmonski, Aimee Publication Date 2010 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Using the Master’s Tools: Representations of Blackness and the Strategies of Stereotype A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Drama and Theatre By Aimee Zygmonski Committee in charge: Professor Frank B. Wilderson, III, Chair Professor Patrick Anderson Professor Jim Carmody Professor Camille F. Forbes Professor Emily Roxworthy 2010 Copyright 2010 Aimee Zygmonski All rights reserved The Dissertation of Aimee Zygmonski is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego University of California, Irvine 2010 iii DEDICATION To Stella and Scupper, because of you, not in spite of you, this dissertation sees its end And To Steve because without you, this dissertation would have languished in the Great Hole of History, for with you, I am whole iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ................................................................................................................... iii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Abstract of the Dissertation ............................................................................................. viii Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: Stereotypes and the Imagistic Constructions of Blackness .........................16 Chapter Two: “Missus K.E.B. Walker and “Black Man with Watermelon” (Im)Politely Request Your Attendance .........................................................................57 Chapter Three: From Welfare Queens to Original Gangstas: Narratives of Power In Kia Corthron's Breath, Boom ..................................................................................109 Chapter Four: Finding Redress from the “Inescapable Prison House of the Flesh” ........136 Chapter Five: Fashioning the Tar Baby and Wishing for the Briar Patch: The Trickster Aesthetic in Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation ...............................................165 Works Cited .....................................................................................................................208 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My multiple roads of inquiry began with Marvin Sims, who suggested I direct Aisha Rahman's Unfinished Women… because it was “good for me.” If you only knew how “good for me” this has really been. Thank you to the faculty of the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance, and the UCI Department of Drama. I am especially grateful to my dissertation committee in all its formations for offering guidance and support to help me to reach this moment, especially to Frank Wilderson for his unending patience. While we may never agree on what constitutes “being in the world,” I appreciate you for agreeing for short time “to be” in mine. I would not have been able to do any of this without the strong friendships of my PhD colleagues who listened to me, gave me hugs, read various versions of this manuscript throughout the years, and gave me the (sometimes) weekly pep talks I needed to finish. Thank you Heathers LaForge and Ramey, Jade, Julie, Laura, Maiya, Michael, Rai, Summer, and Zack. Loaves of bread abound for Michelle Franklin and her “Hail Mary” pass of copy editing. My unending gratitude must go to my parents and brother who, although may never understand exactly why I ever embarked on this journey, never stopped loving and never stopped listening to their overly dramatic daughter and sister. And most of all, Steve, thank you may not be enough to describe how you selflessly put on hold your own dreams so that I could pursue mine. This dissertation is as much you as it is me, is as much your work as it is mine, is as much your celebration as it is mine. I promise, I will not have to go back to school again. vi VITA 1997 B.F.A., Emerson College 2003-2004 Lecturer, Virginia Commonwealth University 2004 M.F.A., Virginia Commonwealth University 2005-2009 Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Theatre and Dance, University of California, San Diego 2009-2010 Associate Instructor, Dept. of Theatre and Dance University of California, San Diego 2010 Ph.D., University of California, San Diego PUBLICATIONS “Semmes, Clovis E. The Regal Theatre and Black Culture.” Theatre Journal. May 2009. Book review. “Carpio, Glenda. Laughing Fit to Kill: Black Humor and the Fictions of Slavery.” Theatre Journal. October 2009. Book review. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Theatre and Performance Studies in African American Theory: Professor Frank B. Wilderson, III, University of California, Irvine Professor Camille F. Forbes, University of California, San Diego Studies in Performance Theory: Professor Patrick Anderson, University of California, San Diego Professor Emily Roxworthy, University of California, San Diego vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Using the Master’s Tools: Representations of Blackness and the Strategies of Stereotype By Aimee Zygmonski Doctor of Philosophy in Drama and Theatre University of California, San Diego, 2010 University of California, Irvine, 2010 Professor Frank B. Wilderson, III, Chair Attending to Audre Lorde’s speech where she famously said, “For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house,” this dissertation argues for the reformation of the master’s tools and cites four plays and an oeuvre of visual art that speak to this radical re- envisioning. The playwrights Kia Corthron, Lynn Nottage, and Suzan-Lori Parks, and visual artist Kara Walker utilize the master’s tools in order to expose the inadequate craftsmanship in the master’s house. Here, the tools used by these women are stereotypes that American culture created in order to oppress African Americans: the historical stereotypes of Sambo, Mammy, Uncle Tom and contemporary stereotypes of the welfare queen and black criminal. As African American artists, these women deliberately deploy stereotypes in their work as a way to defuse their lingering power. These images have haunted America for centuries, and the artists’ works surveyed here tap into collective memories that question how these memories may continue to haunt our future. The “dismantling” that occurs in the various artistic works varies in its aim and scope, and in viii this dissertation I track the particular devices used in conjunction with the artists’ works to uncover the intentional and conscious intervention implicit in the plays and visual art. By looking at the work of Walker, Parks, Corthron, and Nottage, I would like to consider the possibilities for alternative narratives and ruptured stereotypes and discuss how stereotypes and representations of blackness can be recalled, reviewed, and re- envisioned. ix Introduction In arguably one of her most famous speeches, poet, activist, and scholar Audre Lorde said, “For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.” The larger message in her speech to a university humanities conference addresses the mostly white feminist movement that alienated African American women, and specifically black lesbians. The “master’s tools” Lorde references have been interpreted to mean many things over the years, sometimes far removed from the initial meaning of the master as the white, racist, homophobic patriarchy that use “tools” of oppression to exert power over others. I, too, see the possibilities in the symbolic nature of Lorde’s statement, interpreting for my own arguments what such “tools” may be. The notion of the “tool box” has been used in the theatrical world to describe a variety of amorphous items: the voice and body are part of the actor’s tool box; light and color offer designers implements with which to create alternative worlds; and for playwrights, language and images are the most accessible tools to portray characters and situations. As I intend to locate contemporary stereotypes in specific plays in the American theater, such “tools” are paramount to my discussion. The word “dismantle” also proves an intriguing choice. Lorde did not use “destroy,” which would imply an annihilation of hegemonic control. “Dismantle” suggests the breaking down into parts, not the total destruction of those elements. Dismantling could also mean that, at some other time, those singular entities could 1 2 very well form again into a cohesive whole, although not necessarily modeling the previous form. I interrogate these various word choices because they offer a lens through which to analyze the tools used
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