A mouth is always muzzled
Subtitle: six dissidents, five continents, and the art of resistance
By: Natalie Hopkinson
Publisher: The New Press
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 189
ISBN-13: 9781620971246
Subjects: Postcolonialism and the arts; Race in art; Arts; Political aspects; Social conditions
Description: As people consider how to respond to a resurgence of racist, xenophobic populism, A Mouth Is Always Muzzled tells an extraordinary story of the ways art brings hope in perilous times. Weaving disparate topics from sugar and British colonialism to attacks on free speech and Facebook activism and traveling a jagged path across the Americas, Africa, India, and Europe, Natalie Hopkinson, former culture writer for the Washington Post and The Root, argues that art is where the future is negotiated. Part post-colonial manifesto, part history of British Caribbean, part exploration of art in the modern world, A Mouth Is Always Muzzled is a dazzling analysis of the insistent role of art in contemporary politics and life. In crafted, well-honed prose, Hopkinson knits narratives of culture warriors: painter Bernadette Persaud, poet Ruel Johnson, historian Walter Rodney, novelist John Berger, and provocative African American artist Kara Walker, whose homage to the sugar trade Sugar Sphinx electrified American audiences. A Mouth Is Always Muzzled is a moving meditation documenting the artistic legacy generated in response to white supremacy, brutality, domination, and oppression. In the tradition of Paul Gilroy, it is a cri de coeur for the significance of politically bold--even dangerous--art to all people and nations.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Your eyes pass me; title: Lady at the gate; title: The oasis; title: Sweet ruins; title: Booker's prize; title: Bury the voice; title: Lotus.