The Coupling Convention: Sex, Text, and Tradition in Black Women's Fiction

Spanning the period 1853 to 1948, this study explores the nascence of literary activity among American black women and investigates the cultural climate which led some of the most prominent to use the marriage convention as a means of exploring wider questions of human social relations, sexuality and female subjectivity. The author attempts to go beyond the period study to offer a new paradigm for reading American black women's fiction.

Literature & Fiction

DuCille, Ann

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

Skin Trade

How does the notion of colorblind equality fit with the social and economic realities of black Americans? Challenging the increasingly popular argument that blacks should settle down, stop whining, and get jobs,     Skin Trade insists that racism remains America's premier national story and its grossest national product. From Aunt Jemima Pancakes to ethnic Barbie dolls, corporate America peddles racial and gender     stereotypes, packaging and selling them to us as breakfast food or toys for our kids.  Moving from the realm of child's play through the academy and the justice system, Ann duCille draws on icons of     popular culture to demonstrate that it isn't just race and gender that matter in America but race and gender as reducible to skin color, body structure, and other visible signs of difference. She reveals that Mattel, Inc., uses     stereotypes of gender, race, and cultural difference to mark--and market--its Barbie dolls as female, white, black, Asian, and Hispanic. The popularity of these dolls suggests the degree to which we have internalized dominant     definitions of self and other.  In a similar move, Skin Trade interrogates the popular discourse surrounding the trial of O. J. Simpson, arguing that much of the     mainstream coverage of the case was a racially coded message equally dependent on stereotypes. Focusing on Newsweek and Time in particular, duCille shows how the     former All-American was depicted as un-American. She explores other collusions and collisions among race, gender, and capital as well. Especially concerned with superficial distinctions perpetuated within the academic community, the     author argues that the academy indulges in its own skin trade in which both race and gender are hot properties.  By turns biting, humorous, and hopeful, Skin Trade is     always riveting, full of strange connections and unexpected insights.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Harvard University Press

How does the notion of colorblind equality fit with the social and economic realities of black Americans? Challenging the increasingly popular argument that blacks should settle down, stop whining, and get jobs, Skin Trade insists that racism remains America's premier national story and its grossest national product. From Aunt Jemima Pancakes to ethnic Barbie dolls, corporate America peddles racial and gender stereotypes, packaging and selling them to us as breakfast food or toys for our kids.
Moving from the realm of child's play through the academy and the justice system, Ann duCille draws on icons of popular culture to demonstrate that it isn't just race and gender that matter in America but race and gender as reducible to skin color, body structure, and other visible signs of difference. She reveals that Mattel, Inc., uses stereotypes of gender, race, and cultural difference to mark--and market--its Barbie dolls as female, white, black, Asian, and Hispanic. The popularity of these dolls suggests the degree to which we have internalized dominant definitions of self and other.
In a similar move, Skin Trade interrogates the popular discourse surrounding the trial of O. J. Simpson, arguing that much of the mainstream coverage of the case was a racially coded message equally dependent on stereotypes. Focusing on Newsweek and Time in particular, duCille shows how the former All-American was depicted as un-American. She explores other collusions and collisions among race, gender, and capital as well. Especially concerned with superficial distinctions perpetuated within the academic community, the author argues that the academy indulges in its own skin trade in which both race and gender are hot properties.
By turns biting, humorous, and hopeful, Skin Trade is always riveting, full of strange connections and unexpected insights.

From early sitcoms such as I Love Lucy to contemporary prime-time dramas like Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, African Americans on television have too often been asked to portray tired stereotypes of blacks as villains, vixens, victims, and disposable minorities. In Technicolored black feminist critic Ann duCille combines cultural critique with personal reflections on growing up with the new medium of TV to examine how televisual representations of African Americans have changed over the last sixty years. Whether explaining how watching Shirley Temple led her to question her own self-worth or how televisual representation functions as a form of racial profiling, duCille traces the real-life social and political repercussions of the portrayal and presence of African Americans on television. Neither a conventional memoir nor a traditional media study, Technicolored offers one lifelong television watcher's careful, personal, and timely analysis of how television continues to shape notions of race in the American imagination.

Technicolored: Reflections on Race in the Time of TV (a Camera Obscura book)

Humor & Entertainment

Television

Duke University Press Books

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Books by DuCille, Ann

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by DuCille, Ann. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Coupling Convention: Sex, Text, and Tradition in Black Women's Fiction

Skin Trade

Skin Trade

Technicolored: Reflections on Race in the Time of TV (a Camera Obscura book)

Technicolored: Reflections on Race in the Time of TV (a Camera Obscura book)