Black Representation Research Articles

"AMERICA, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!": RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN BEULAH AND BERNIE MAC

This paper compares and contrasts The Beulah Show (ABC, 1950-1953) and The Mac Show (Fox, 2001-2006) in order to trace the differences and similarities between the racialized, gendered, and classed representations of blacks in American television situation comedy genre over a fifty-year period. The paper critically examines and interprets the image constructions of each series' central character, Beulah Brown and Mac, within the contexts of race, gender, and class, specifically utilizing Herman Gray's theory of the discursive practices of segregation ism, pluralism, and multiculturalism. The paper demonstrates that these image constructions are representative of race and black (objectivity and) subjectivity in US. society. The analysis of Beulah Brown is based on screenings of the episode Donnie's Dance Date which featured Hattie McDaniel, Ruby Dandridge, Ernest Whitman, David Bruce, Jane Frazee, and Stuffy Singer in 1951 and the analysis of Mac is based on screenings of Bernie Mac, Ladies Man, the fourth episode of the series in 2001

The Suppression Hypothesis Reconsidered: Competition Between Blacks and White Immigrants in the Retail Trade in Large Northern Cities, 1910-1930

Introduction The development of entrepreneurship in retail trade in large northern cities during early 20th century was viewed by many leaders as essential to economic progress of blacks as group. If retail entrepreneurs could monopolize local trade in communities that were created in these cities by first wave of Black Migration to North (circa 1915-1930), then, it was believed, number of benefits would follow: These entrepreneurs would expand their businesses, hire additional employees, and, over long run, sustain network of black-owned wholesaling and manufacturing enterprises that could provide foundation for economy, that is, a cooperative arrangement of industries and services within Negro group such that group tends to be closed economic circle largely independent of surrounding white world (Du Bois 1907: 179, quoted in Waldinger and Aldrich 1990: 59). The basis of this belief was doctrine of double-duty dollar, which was popularized by church and press in urban North in 1920s and 1930s. This doctrine, which was evidently based on concept of multiplier effect in economic theory (Pearce 1986: 288), argued that money spent in retail stores owned by blacks would circulate within community and, in so doing, generate greater employment and incomes for blacks, locally and nationally (Drake and Cayton 1962: 430-431; see also Light 1972: 119, citing Harris 1936; Myrdal 1944). Accordingly, in wake of Great Migration, support for entrepreneurship in retail trade was vigorously encouraged in northern cities by churches, newspapers, and voluntary organizations, such as lodges and fraternal orders. This support often took form of buy black campaigns. These campaigns originated in urban North (Frazier 1957: 166) and emphasized the duty of to trade with Negroes and promised to blacks ultimate 'racial' salvation through their loyal patronage of black-owned retail stores (Drake and Cayton 1962: 430; see also Ofari 1970: 52). Sometimes support for entrepreneurship took form of attempts to promote cooperative ventures among those entrepreneurs who sought to become retail merchants. These attempts were motivated by belief that in retail trade would be achieved through efficiencies gained by pooling of resources, coordination of business practices, such as advertising, and standardization of goods and equipment. The Colored Merchants Association, founded in New York City by Albon Holsey in 1929 under auspices of late Booker T. Washington's National Negro Business League, was an example of such collective venture (Light 1972: 125, citing Harris 1936). In spite of these efforts, though, entrepreneurs struggled to establish themselves in retail trade in urban North. They faced numerous obstacles, including racial bias in lending and in extension of credit, exclusion from main commercial districts, restricted access to business training, and denial of both property rights and police protection (Boyd 2001: 242, citing Bates 1973; Butler 1991; Harmon 1929; Harris 1936; Higgs 1977; Myrdal 1944). Furthermore, by some accounts, they were also hampered by limited opportunities to gain experience in buying and selling (Frazier 1949: 411), dearth of entrepreneurial success symbols (Foley 1966: 572), and absence of socio-cultural heritage that included rotating credit associations that could generate financial capital for business startups (Light 1972: 22). As consequence of these and other difficulties, blacks were greatly underrepresented in retail trade. For example, in 60 large northern cities in 1930, number of retail merchants was, on average, 81 percent less than what would be expected on basis of representation of blacks in these cities' workforces (Boyd 2003a: 451). …

The trials and tribulations of constitutionalism and the constitution-making process in Zimbabwe

Constitutionalism in Zimbabwe has been characterised by controversy with citizens getting a raw deal. The colonial era was characterised by deprivation of basic rights and civil liberties. A plethora of constitutions were established to try and create a semblance of black representation. The post-colonial era was informed by governance structures provided by the Lancaster House Constitutional document which was a surrender document that brought the protracted liberation struggle to an end. The vagaries of the Lancaster House Constitution lived to haunt even those who fought for the country, leading to an expression of dissatisfaction with its contents. After successive indecisive elections conducted under the Lancaster House Constitution, the political and economic crises of 2008 led to an impasse and the signing of the Global Political Agreement which gave birth to the Inclusive Government. This paper will explore the general theory of constitutions from the Aristotelian classical perspective. Thereafter, the paper will also provide an overview of the concept of constitutionalism, followed by the case of Zimbabwe from the colonial era and the various constitutional documents that existed. The recent political development and the role of civil society herein represented by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) will be presented and how the civic group has articulated the constitution reform debate since its inception in 1997.

Rifts and Tides: The Road to Black Political Representation

Rifts and Tides: The Road to Black Political Representation

Images of black modernism: verbal and visual strategies of the Harlem Renaissance

Focusing on the years from 1922 to 1938, this book revisits an important moment in black cultural history to explore how visual elements were used in poems, novels, and photography to undermine existing stereotypes. Miriam Thaggert identifies and analyzes an early form of black American modernism characterized by a heightened level of experimentation with visual and verbal techniques for narrating and representing blackness. The work of the writers and artists under discussion reflects the creative tension between the intangibility of some forms of black expression, such as spirituals, and the materiality of the body evoked by other representations of blackness, such as Negro dialect. By paying special attention to the contributions of photographers and other visual artists who have not been discussed in previous accounts of black modernism, Thaggert expands the scope of our understanding of the Renaissance and contributes to a growing recognition of the importance of visual culture as a distinct element within, and not separate from, black literary studies. Thaggert trains her critical eye on the work of James Weldon Johnson, Nella Larsen, George Schuyler, Carl Van Vechten, James Van Der Zee, and Aaron Siskind--artists who experimented with narrative and photographic techniques in order to alter the perception of black images and to question and reshape how one reads and sees the black body. Examining some of the more problematic authors and artists of black modernism, she challenges entrenched assumptions about black literary and visual representations of the early to mid twentieth century. Thaggert concludes her study with a close look at the ways in which and the Renaissance were reimagined and memorialized in two notable texts--Wallace Thurman's 1932 satire Infants of the Spring and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's controversial 1969 exhibition Harlem on My Mind: The Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968.

On the Scenic Route to Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn (1942)

This study of Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn (Paramount, 1942) considers the collaboration of the film's four primary creative figures: Irving Berlin, Mark Sandrich, Bing Crosby, and Fred Astaire. Extracted from a wide array of production materials, the story of the making of Holiday Inn demonstrates how archival research can address questions of broad scholarly interest, such as large-scale form, star personas, musical style, musical-dramatic integration, the representation of blackness and African American characters, and political meaning in popular-culture products. Examining details of the film's production history sheds particular light upon the function of songs and musical routines as quasi-autonomous parts of the whole.

Never, Sometimes, Always: The Multiple Temporalities of “Post-Race” Discourse in Convergence Television Narrative

Because convergence is a context in which programs are increasingly dispersed across channels and delivery technologies, attention to the television's multiple temporalities helps parse out differing investments vis-à-vis blackness in the production, distribution, and reception of its content. Programs that center on black characters demonstrate television's temporal pluralities in that they often make blackness a commodity pleasure but only raise issues of power and privilege endemic to racial difference in discrete, bounded ways. At the same time, television's representations of blackness demonstrate how television in the context of convergence enables unique viewing positions for minority audiences. Using Mary Ann Doane's notion of television's multiple temporal orders, I cast blackness as a contradiction throughout the narratives and distribution contexts characteristic of the contemporary medium.

The Black Experience in Business Aviation: An Exploratory Case Study

Despite a rich heritage of interest in aviation as a career choice, Blacks have been underrepresented across all three areas of aviation in the United States: airline/air transport, military, and general/business aviation. The lack of interest in aviation careers by Blacks has not been the issue; societal obstacles, historical ignorance of the Black aviation experience, and an industry that traditionally closed most doors to professional aviation careers for minorities have been the culprits. Business and corporate aviation (corporate flight departments/ service providers) in particular has experienced low entrance and retention numbers for Black professionals, a reflection of the wider civilian aviation industry. An exploratory single case study, focusing on the experiences of Blacks employed in the world of business aviation, was completed and is described herein. This study design was chosen due to the lack of research on the topic in the existing literature. The data gathered advocates for future research across five major areas in order to further the knowledge and understanding of Black representation, not only in business aviation, but in the wider aviation industry as a whole.

Abstract A97: An analysis of diversity based on race and ethnicity in the radiation oncology workforce

Abstract Background/Purpose: The American Association for Cancer Research has created initiatives to increase the participation of minority scientists in cancer research, while the American Society of Clinical Oncology has similarly set the objective of diversifying the clinical oncology workforce as a “requisite to improving cancer care for the underserved.” Studies indicate that racial/ethnic minority providers are more likely to serve in minority and medically underserved communities and more likely to pursue research on health disparities. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recently examined diversity in the oncology workforce in Forecasting the Supply of and Demand for Oncologists, however, data on Radiation Oncology (RadOnc), specifically, were not included. To our knowledge, no published studies have examined racial/ethnic diversity within RadOnc. Nearly two-thirds of all cancer patients will undergo radiation therapy during their treatment course. The purpose of this study was to assess the diversity of the RadOnc workforce, with particular attention to the resident trainee level, and compare the findings to that of medical school graduates, Hematology/Medical Oncology (MedOnc) fellows, and the general population. Methods: The most recent available public registries (2004–2010) from the American Medical Association, AAMC, and United States Census were used to assess racial/ethnic diversity. Significant differences in race/ethnicity were investigated between RadOnc residents and: 1) medical school graduates, 2) MedOnc fellows, and 3) RadOnc practicing physicians. All levels were compared to the general population. Statistical analyses were performed using chi-squared tests. Results: Based on 2007 data, there was a significant decrease in representation of Blacks from medical school graduates to RadOnc residents (6.7% vs. 3.4%, p=0.0038), an increase of Asians (20.4% v. 29.1%, p<0.0001) and no change for Hispanics (6.8% vs. 7.2%, p=0.91). Blacks submitted on average less RadOnc residency applications (28.5) than did Whites (35.4), Asians (35.7), or Hispanics (36.0); overall mean 34.3. When comparing RadOnc and MedOnc trainees, there was no difference in Blacks (3.4 vs. 3.7%, p=0.87) and Hispanics (7.2 vs. 7.4%, p=0.90), less Asians (29% vs. 36%, p=0.006), and more Whites (59.2% vs. 52.9%, p=0.019). When comparing the pool of RadOnc residents to practicing physicians, there were no significant differences for Blacks and Hispanic, while Asians were increased (35.5% vs. 14.9%, p<0.0001). Blacks and Hispanics were significantly underrepresented as RadOnc residents (3.4% and 7.2%, respectively) and practicing physicians (4.4% and 3.1%, respectively) and MedOnc fellows (3.7% and 7.4%, respectively) in comparison to the general population (12.6% and 16.3%, respectively), while Asians and Whites were proportionally increased (all Ps < 0.0001). Conclusions: Blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented in RadOnc at the residency and practicing physician levels compared to the overall population. Blacks remain underrepresented in the RadOnc resident trainee level when compared to their proportions as medical school graduates, suggesting that underrepresentation of these groups is not diminishing. Given existing cancer disparities and the potential to address them through diversification of the physician workforce, further research is needed to investigate whether these disparities simply represent different preferences in specialty choice, or other factors such as differences in exposure, selection, recruitment, mentorship, research, and/or real vs. perceived ability to successfully attain residency positions. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):A97.

Racial Composition, White Racial Attitudes, and Black Representation: Testing the Racial Threat Hypothesis in the United States Senate

We make the case for why the racial threat hypothesis should characterize the relationship between states’ racial composition, whites’ racial attitudes, and black representation in the United States Senate. Consistent with this claim, we find that senators from states with larger percentages of African-Americans among the electorate and more racially conservative preferences among whites provide worse representation of black interests in the Senate than their counterparts. We also apply theories of congressional cross-pressures in considering how senator partisanship and region moderate the effect of white racial attitudes on black representation. Finally, consistent with the racial threat hypothesis, we show that the negative effect of white racial attitudes on the quality of black representation is stronger when state unemployment rates are higher.

Searching for Self in the Global South: Japanese Literary Representations of Afro-Jamaican Blackness

This article explores Japanese literary engagement with the Caribbean island of Jamaica, one informed most directly by the recent popularity of Jamaican musical culture in Japan. I link these works to a discursive imagination of the international, including the Third World, as a proving ground for artistic accomplishment and for the acquisition of an ideological cosmopolitanism counterposed against life in insular Japan. This includes the discourse of jibun sagashi, or self-searching, that has emerged in the post-1991 recessionary era. I argue that a consistent trope in many works of fiction and non-fiction on Japanese travel to Jamaica is of their protagonists' or authors' intimate encounter with Afro-Jamaican blackness as both menacing and impoverished, but also vitalizing and endearing. Encountering the Afro-Jamaican, and surviving it, simultaneously affords a sense of toughness and sociopolitical enlightenment impossible elsewhere in Japan. I conclude that although these narratives usually include returns to a Japanese homeland appreciated anew, an ethnographic perspective on these issues – though not the focus of the paper – suggests that the experiences of less famous Japanese youth travelling to Jamaica might complicate these narratives offered to mainstream audiences.

Export quality: Representing Fijian bodies and the economy of war

Fijian bodies have become a valuable commodity in the economy of war. Remittances from workers overseas are Fiji's largest income – exceeding that of tourism and sugar export. This essay examines historical and contemporary representations of the black male body that perpetuate the exploitation of Fijians by inscribing the Fijian male body as warrior, criminal and protector. Taking a multidisciplinary approach informed by sociology, cultural theory, Pacific studies, visual culture, feminist and post-colonial theory, my practice is the vehicle through which I address issues of neocolonial commodification of Fijian bodies. Through an analysis of my own staged photographs and vernacular images taken by Fijians working for private security military companies and British and US armies, I hope to challenge audiences to consider their own perceptions of Fijian agency and subjectivity. By theorising the politicisation of the black body and interrogating colonial representations of blackness, I argue that we can begin to create links between the historical and contemporary exploitation of Fijians and that at the essence of both is an underlying racial hierarchy and economic requirement for cheap and, arguably, expendable labour.

Reading Ethnicity in Children's Literature

Reading Ethnicity in Children's Literature Karen Chandler (bio) Ethnic Literary Traditions in American Children's Literature, edited by Michelle Pagni Stewart and Yvonne Atkinson. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Ethnic Literary Traditions in American Children's Literature brings together criticism, interviews, and personal essays to explore culturally specific themes, subject matter, and forms in Native American, African American, Latina/o, and Asian American children's literature. Because distinct, culturally specific aesthetic traditions often inform this literature, it resonates more fully with adult texts from the same cultural matrix than with Euro-American children's literature. Not recognizing this distinction is common, according to editors Michelle Pagni Stewart and Yvonne Atkinson, resulting in interpretations and evaluations that depend more on Euro-American literary standards than the aesthetic traditions that actually shape many ethnic minority writers' work. Although texts by such writers certainly may bear the influence of Euro-American traditions, ignoring their "ethnic base" can obscure or displace the texts' motifs, themes, situations, and significance (5). This volume provides much-needed critical perspectives through which to apprehend the culturally specific forms, patterns, and themes in individual works of ethnic youth literature, such as Cynthia Leitich Smith's Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Angela Johnson's First Part Last, Tanuja Desai Hidier's Born Confused, and Rigoberto González's Antonio's Card / La Tarjeta de Antonio. The editors aim for the collection to serve as a springboard for reading, teaching, and writing about these and many other texts with greater sensitivity and insight. Of course, one could argue that delineating a gestalt or ethnic tradition can be reductive, excluding practices and beliefs that do not fit a conception of ethnic expression on which many scholars and nonprofessional readers agree. The case has been made in African American studies, for instance, that conceptions of African American literature that simply rely on black folk expression or representations of blackness are misleading, because they obscure the importance of other kinds of literature by African American writers (Carby 126-27; Jarrett, Introduction 2). Among these other works are Arna Bontemps's Black Thunder, Ann Petry's Country Place, Zora Neale Hurston's Seraph [End Page 289] on the Sewanee, and Toni Morrison's "Recitatif," whose narrative priorities either do not emphasize the experience of black characters or lack clear ties to black folk expression, such as spirituals or the blues. Even with this caveat, however, the fact remains that racial emphasis and a debt to oral culture are identifying qualities of much African American literature. And it may be that these qualities shape African American children's literature more than other black aesthetics do. Certainly, the essays in Ethnic Literary Traditions acknowledge the riches of ethnic writing in general and should inspire more attention to ways in which texts reflect or challenge particular aesthetic traditions. In promoting understanding of the distinct gestalt of each group under consideration, Stewart and Atkinson divide the collection into four sections, each focusing on traditions associated with a broadly defined ethnic group. Each section opens with a celebrated author's aesthetic statement, either in an interview or a personal essay, and proceeds with a critical overview of culturally specific children's and adult literature and criticism attuned to the ethnic nuances of key literary works. The collection closes with a useful bibliography of primary texts from each tradition, as well as literary criticism on ethnicity and literature in general and the four ethnic traditions in particular. Both editors and contributors are aware that in many respects the designations "Latina/o," "Asian American," "African American," and "Native American" are politically convenient ones that do not refer to homogeneous populations. Yet the contributors seek to delve deeply into issues relevant to particular groups (for instance, Chicano or Japanese American) within a larger ethnic category (Latina/o or Asian American). The first section, for instance, concerns literature by and about Native Americans, a group that is admittedly composed of many cultures and linguistic groups. As contributor P. Jane Hafen remarks in "Survival through Stories: An Introduction to Indian Literature," "Within each [of these American Indian cultures there] are complex social structures, adaptive techniques and origin stories which reflect the moral universe...

The Colored Cartoon: Black Representation in American Animated Short Films, 1907–1954

The Colored Cartoon: Black Representation in American Animated Short Films, 1907–1954

Colonial Visual Archives and the Anti-Documentary Perspective in Africa

This paper gives evidence that visual documentation is not simply collections of images and sounds. During the colonization of Africa, conventional Western documentaries were integral to the culture of racism and impunity featuring Africans as props for a monumental construction of knowledge and iconography fuelled by so-called African racial and inferiority. The pregnancy of this propaganda is still felt in contemporary Africa in terms of continental self-image, self-esteem, and life chances because these colonial documentaries had become a powerful archive constricting the range of African representation and opportunities to negative cliches. Accordingly, as Jean-Marie Teno claims in Africa, I Will Fleece You (1992), one of the greatest victories of colonization was cultural genocide for the ways in which the local culture was erased by the colonial machines sticking Africans into the purgatory of the gods of colonialism, condemning them as perpetual peripheral characters in the construction of their own history, identity, and salvation. As a result, a real and genuine African work of colonial healing, selfrespect, and dignity is a condition sine qua non for a real ascetic process of genuine liberation.Considering documentary as archives, within this context, highlights the importance of justice to emphasize the Aristotelian premise that ethical principles require universal validity and application that cannot easily be buried by political expediency or provincial prejudice. For that matter, ethics in documentary stands to rupture with the naive notion of objectivity in order to confront the complex notion that documentary making is not immune from the compromises of power and, thus, can become quickly deficient in ethics. Ethics, within this context, is not simply a matter of abstraction. The work of documentary conjures a symbolic order with social and political implications; therefore, the documentarian is to be conscious of the influence of ideology, objectivity, and self-interest in visual documentation.1 In the work of Teno, it means the extent to which it is impossible to think about contemporary Africa and its struggle for democratic development while neglecting the power and legacy of centuries of Western engineering in which Africans were used as props for colonial propaganda, the injustices that derived from this colonial symbolic order and the impact of its continuous imbrications in the daily life of ordinary Africans. These processes put real constraints on decolonization.This work, consequently, relies on Teno and the anti-documentary perspective which highlights how the former colonized are taking advantage of the tools and techniques of the documentary to interrogate processes in which they were documented, produced, humiliated, and alienated by the colonizers and the ethical necessity to answer back and express a more legitimate representation of blackness in terms of history, memory, and indigenous democratic and political codes to midwife new ways of being and new ways of seeing. In short, it means for Africans to reclaim the power to reenter their own history that had been choked up by the colonial experience. perspective, therefore, is an ethical action from filmmakers of former colonies emphasizing the importance of decolonizing images in order to evacuate the colonial matrix beginning by changing the gaze over Black history and the Black body for real liberation and development which is the object of Teno's documentaries. Thus, this is a work with a clear eye on redeeming the humanity of Africans long denied by the colonial experience.Considering the Anti-documentary, finally, is to complicate the simple ethic that there are bad people on one side and good people on the other and to challenge the notion that Anti-documentary is simply a work of auto-flagellation, distress, historical grudges, and political naivete. …

Modèle comportemental dans l'espace d'état d'un alternateur synchrone

This paper proposes a dynamic modeling approach of a synchronous generator in order to build simulators of embarked network. The developed model avoids the accessibility constraints to identify the rotor physical parameters. To reproduce temporal behavior of the rotor, a state space model of its black box representation is proposed. The parameters are identified by a particle swarm optimization algorithm using the results of SSFR tests. A current regulated static converter is proposed to replace the linear amplifier to do the measurements. This solution offer an inexpensive alternative to a linear power amplifier, especially for high power generator. Finally simulations and experimental results are compared in dynamic and steady states to validate the proposed approach.

To be liked versus respected: Divergent goals in interracial interactions.

Pervasive representations of Blacks and Latinos as unintelligent and of Whites as racist may give rise to divergent impression management goals in interracial interactions. We present studies showing that in interracial interactions racial minorities seek to be respected and seen as competent more than Whites do, whereas Whites seek to be liked and seen as moral more than racial minorities do. These divergent impression management goals are reflected in Whites' and racial minorities' self-report responses (Studies 1a, 1b, 2, and 4) and behaviors (Studies 3a and 3b). Divergent goals are observed in pre-existing relationships (Study 2), as well as in live interactions (Studies 3a, 3b, and 4), and are associated with higher levels of negative other-directed affect (Study 4). Implications of these goals for interracial communication and misunderstandings are discussed.

Animated Representations of Blackness

If Wells (2002, 1) is correct in his assertion that animation, in common with jazz, the western, and the musical, is an art genre originating in the United States, then, as Lehman (2007, 1) proposes, the wildly popular form surely “owes its existence to African Americans.” Unlike jazz, which African Americans have long constituted the overwhelming majority of creators, and at times consumers, animation has historically fed on blackness, recycling caricatures—such as Mammy Two Shoes in Tom and Jerry and the crows in Dumbo—and inspiring characters—Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny for instance—even as Blacks were excluded from the production of the medium (Lehman 2007; Lindvall and Fraser 2002; Sampson 1997). Importantly, as Pigeon (1997) argues, animated representation projected accounts of racial difference through black face, even after minstrel shows had fallen out favor. In fact, it is hard not to read the history of animation in the United States as anti-black racism, persistently reiterated for the pleasure of white audiences and the profit of (largely) white owned corporation. Oddly, even as one credits the anti-racist struggles that grew ever more powerful after the Second World War with effectively dismantling negative images of African Americans in animation and beyond, a troubling question remains: why have so few positive portraits replaced these negative images? That is, with the exception of Fat Albert and the more problematic Coonskin, what accounts for the virtual absence of animated representations of blackness in the aftermath of the civil rights movement? Moreover, even as multiculturalism flourished in marketing and entertainment, why have African Americans remained all but invisible, marginal, and tokenized—so J Afr Am St (2010) 14:395–397 DOI 10.1007/s12111-010-9141-2

Circuits of Political Prophecy: Martin Luther King Jr., Peter Tosh, and the Black Radical Imaginary

This article examines transnational circulations of Afro-Jamaican and African-American political culture during 1960s and 1970s (roughly encompassing Jamaican independence, the transitions between Black Power and post–Black-Power era United States, and the year of escalating political violence, state destabilization, and economic collapse within the Jamaican state). Using an idea of sound as a marker of ideological projection and political possibility, this essay considers how forms of black political representation and national liberation move across geographic spaces and can represent intersecting yet divergent narratives of race and nation. In this context, I examine works and performances by Martin Luther King Jr. (during his 1965 speeches in Kingston) and Peter Tosh (during his 1978 One Love Peace Concert performance) as a way of framing how discourses of black liberation, postcolonial critique, Civil Rights and Black Power ideologies, and Rastafarian consciousness animate the efforts of both figures as they attempt to refashion ideas of black political possibility through and against the terms of modern emancipation and citizenship.

The English clown tradition from the Middle Ages to Shakespeare

From the late-medieval period through to the seventeenth century, English theatrical clowns carried a weighty cultural significance, only to have it stripped from them, sometimes violently, by the close of the Renaissance when the famed 'license' of fooling was effectively revoked. This groundbreaking survey of clown traditions in the period looks both at their history, and reveals their hidden cultural contexts and legacies; it has far-reaching implications not only for our general understanding of English clown types, but also their considerable role in defining social, religious and racial boundaries. It begins with an exploration of previously un-noted early representations of blackness in medieval psalters, cycle plays, and Tudor interludes, arguing that they are emblematic of folly and ignorance rather than of evil. Subsequent chapters show how protestants at Cambridge and at court, during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward, patronised a clownish, iconoclastic Lord of Misrule; look at the Elizabethan puritan stage clown; and, move on to a provocative reconsideration of the Fool in King Lear, drawing completely fresh conclusions. Finally, the epilogue points to the satirical clowning which took place surreptitiously in the Interregnum, and the (sometimes violent) end of 'licensed' folly. Professor Robert Hornback teaches in the Departments of Literature and Theatre at Oglethorpe University.