University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2007 The politics and poetics of African American women's identity performances: (re) reading black hair in fictional/non-fictional writings and cultural productions/ Eunice Angelica Whitmal University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Whitmal, Eunice Angelica, "The politics and poetics of African American women's identity performances: (re) reading black hair in fictional/non-fictional writings and cultural productions/" (2007). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 925. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/925 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/politicspoeticsoOOwhit This is an authorized facsimile, made from the microfilm master copy of the original dissertation or master thesis published by UMI. The bibliographic information for this thesis is contained in UMI's Dissertation Abstracts database, the only central source for accessing almost every doctoral dissertation accepted in North America since 1861. Dissertation UMI Services From:Pro(j^uest 300 North Zeeb Road P.O Box 1346 Ann Arbor. Michigan 48106-1346 USA 800 521 0600 7 34 761 4700 web www il proquest com THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S IDENTITY PERFORMANCES: (RE) READING BLACK HAIR IN FICTIONAL / NON- FICTIONAL WRITINGS AND CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS A Dissertation Presented by EUNICE ANGELICA WHITMAL Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2007 Afro-American Studies UMI Number: 3347799 Copyright 2009 by Whitmal, Eunice Angelica All rights reserved INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI Microform 3347799 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 © Copyright by Eunice Angelica Whitmal 2007 All Rights Reserved THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S IDENTITY PERFORMANCES: (RE) READING BLACK HAIR IN FICTION AL / NON- FICTIONAL WRITINGS AND CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS A Dissertation Presented by EUNICE ANGELICA WHITMAL Approved as to style and content by: Esther M.A. Terry, Chair John H. Bracey, Jr., Member James Smethurst, Member Ann Ferguson, Member Esther M.A. Terry, Department Chair W.E.B. Dubois Department of Afro- American Studies THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S IDENTITY PERFORMANCES: (RE) READING BLACK HAIR IN FICTIONAL / NON- FICTIONAL WRITINGS AND CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS A Dissertation Presented by EUNICE ANGELICA WHITMAL Approved as to style and content by: Esther M.A. Terry, Chair^y Ann Ferguson, Member Esther M.A. Terry, Departmenj Chair W.E.B. Dubois Department of Afro- American Studies DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the memorv of m\ beloved mother. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I give thanks and praise to God, who is the head of my life, and who made completing this dissertation possible. While I alone bear the responsibility for the content in this dissertation, there were many who helped me during the process. I want to first thank my dissertation committee members: Professor Terry, Professor Bracey, Professor Smethurst, and Professor Ferguson. All have made contributions to my intellectual development and this project. I want to offer special thanks to my advisor, Professor Terry; thank you for your diligent hard work and your frank, constructive advice. Professor Smethurst, thank you for your critical eye. patience, and guidance. Professor Bracey, thank you for being a wealth of intellectual information, being supportive, and always offering to help without being asked. Professor Ferguson, thank you for always encouraging me, never doubting the importance of this work, or my intellectual abilities. Also, I want to thank the faculty, staff, and other students of the department of Afro-American studies for the support and resources that they provided while I was a student. I would be remiss if I did not thank my wonderful friends who, also during this process, served as mentors and silent committee members: Janet, Lisa, Linda. Lori. Fatima, and Deborah. I am truly blessed and grateful to have such fabulous women support me through a process they are all too familiar with. Thank you for sharing your tales, anxieties and successes, and wholeheartedly and lovingly cheering me on when I was not so sure of myself. I also want to thank my extended loving family. I am particularly indebted to my first teacher: my mother. My mother left his physical world while I was taking courses, but her spirit has been with me all along. I am grateful to the early educational foundation she gave me and her constant discussion on the difference and importance of both traditional and organic intellectuals. I believe her influence has made me a better student and certainly a better person. I want to thank my mother for teaching me to love reading by always giving me a book to read when I uttered the phrase "I'm bored". I would also like to acknowledge my loving siblings. The words "thank you" seem so inadequate to those that have spent their lives showering me with unconditional love, honesty, friendship, and encouragement. Thank you for showing me, by your examples, that academic success was not merely possible, but also required. Thank you for always demonstrating the importance of human decency and encouraging me to come to the table of life with more than just my appetite. Thank you for always listening, for the unfathomable support (spiritual, emotional, and financial,), and for always reminding me " lovingly (and upon occasion—sternly) and plainly to: "Just do your work. I have saved for last the debt that is most difficult to acknowledge properly: the one I owe my immediate family. I want to thank Ayana, Nia, and Malcolm (the sweetest and most brilliant, beautiful, and patient children in the universe) for letting me work when they wanted me to do a multitude of other "fun" things. I want them to know that I can now devote my complete attention to doing the most important and political work in the world-being their mommy. Finally, immeasurable thanks to Nate, my darling husband. Y who read more and commented on this project more than anyone. Ii would be an understatement to say that I truly appreciate his help. In fact. I could not have accomplished this task without him. Thank you for your love, patience, and support as I completed this project. vi ABSTRACT THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S IDENTITY PERFORMANCES: (RE) READING BLACK HAIR IN FICTION AL / NON- FICTIONAL WRITINGS AND CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS MAY 2007 EUNICE ANGELICA WHITMAL. B.A., LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO M.A., NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Esther Terry This study considers how some African American women use their cultural production (e.g., fictional/non-fictional writings, films, prose, plays, comics, art. and music) to show how hair is central to their identity (re Construction. This study is multi- disciplinary in its approach, and uses paradigms from Afro-American studies, Black feminist thought, cultural studies, feminism, literary studies, and performance studies in order to investigate the ways that African American women (re)negotiate hair and identity politics in the world. An important aspect of this study is that for such women, hair is a part of their identity that has a performative dimension. Performance studies provides an alternative perspective that allows some scholars to contemplate African American women's hair politics and identities in a space of critical validation, self- reflexivity, and celebration. The selected works which I consider in this study utilize "natural" hair politics and identity performances that challenge derogatory images of African American women in an effort to present a more realistic and self-defined vii (re (presentations of African American women and. in turn, deemphasize hegemonic ideas about aesthetics and identity. viii CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v ABSTRACT vii INTRODUCTION 1 I: HAIR AS A TROPE FOR RACE, CLASS, GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN HARRIET WILSON S OUR NIG AND HARRIET JACOBS' INCIDENTS IN THE LITE OF A SLAVE GIRL 17 II: (RE) READING AFRICAN AMERICAN HAIR POLITICS AND IDENTITY PERFORMANCES FROM THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE TO THE 1960S 42 III: INTERROGATING AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S HAIR POLITICS AND IDENTITY PERFORMANCES IN POST BLACK POWER MOVEMENT CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE 86 IV: (RE) READING AFRICAN AMERICAN HAIR POLITICS AND IDENTITY PERFORMANCES IN SELECTED FILMS 151 V: (RE)CONCEPTUALIZING AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S HAIR AND IDENTITY POLITICS IN POPULAR CULTURE 181 CONCLUSION 247 BIBLIOGRAPHY 251 INTRODUCTION This stud) considers how sonic African American women use then cultural production (e.g.. their fictional/non-fictional writings, films, prose, plays, comics, art, and music) to show how hair it is central to their identity (re)construction. It also explores how some African American women's use of hair as signifiers for, but not limited to, race, class, sexuality, and gender.