Ceramic Uncles and Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture
In this astute study of black representations in American popular culture, Turner, who teaches at the University of California, Davis, unpacks a vast range of insidious and pervasive racist iconography. Turner documents how cultural artifacts as varied as racial jokes, urban myths, household bric-a-brac and media portrayals spanning the last 150 years reinforce longstanding stereotypes of African Americans. A chapter on "contemptible collectibles" surveys the servile and imbecilic imagery of domestic kitsch like mammy cookie jars, lawn ornaments and smiling pickaninny dolls, noting the premium on such items in today's antiques market. Elsewhere Turner explores the legacy of 19th-century minstrelsy and Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, whose eponymous, desexualized, pious protagonist continues to influence black roles in contemporary TV and film. Most startling is Turner's analysis of recent films set in Africa, whose black characters, she notes, are granted far less dignified roles than their white and primate co-stars. Turner's research is not especially groundbreaking, but her lucid analysis and keen insights are most valuable. Photos.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.