Black Hunger: Food and the Politics of U.S. Identity (Race and American Culture)

The creation of the Aunt Jemima trademark from an 1889 vaudeville performance of a play called ''The Emigrant'' helped codify a pervasive connection between African American women and food. In Black Hunger , Doris Witt demonstrates how this connection has operated as a central structuring dynamic of twentieth-century U.S. psychic, cultural, sociopolitical, and economic life. Taking as her focus the tumultuous era of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when soul food emerged as a pivotal emblem of white radical chic and black bourgeois authenticity, Witt explores how this interracial celebration of previously stigmatized foods such as chitterlings and watermelon was linked to the contemporaneous vilification of black women as slave mothers. By positioning African American women at the nexus of debates over domestic servants, black culinary history, and white female body politics, Black Hunger demonstrates why the ongoing narrative of white fascination with blackness demands increased attention to the internal dynamics of sexuality, gender, class, and religion in African American culture. Witt draws on recent work in social history and cultural studies to argue for food as an interpretive paradigm which can challenge the privileging of music in scholarship on African American culture, destabilize constrictive disciplinary boundaries in the academy, and enhance our understanding of how individual and collective identities are established. The Creation Of The Aunt Jemima Trademark From An 1889 Vaudeville Performance Of A Play Called The Emigrant Helped Codify A Pervasive Connection Between African American Women And Food. In Black Hunger, Doris Witt Demonstrates How This Connection Has Operated As A Central Structuring Dynamic Of Twentieth-century U.s. Psychic, Cultural, Sociopolitical, And Economic Life. Witt Draws On Recent Work In Social History And Cultural Studies To Argue For Food As An Interpretive Paradigm Which Can Challenge The Privileging Of Music In Scholarship On African American Culture, Destabilize Constrictive Disciplinary Boundaries In The Academy, And Enhance Our Understanding Of How Individual And Collective Identities Are Established.--book Jacket. Pt. I. Servant Problems -- 1. Look Ma, The Real Aunt Jemima!: Consuming Identities Under Capitalism -- 2. Biscuits Are Being Beaten: Craig Claiborne And The Epistemology Of The Kitchen Dominatrix -- Pt. Ii. Soul Food And Black Masculinity -- 3. Eating Chitterlings Is Like Going Slumming: Soul Food And Its Discontents -- 4. Pork Or Women: Purity And Danger In The Nation Of Islam -- 5. Of Watermelon And Men: Dick Gregory's Cloacal Continuum -- Pt. Iii. Black Female Hunger -- 6. My Kitchen Was The World: Vertamae Smart Grosvenor's Geechee Diaspora -- 7. How Mama Started To Get Large: Eating Disorders, Fetal Rights, And Black Female Appetite -- African American Cookbooks -- Chronological Bibliography Of Cookbooks By African Americans. Doris Witt. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 253-281) And Index. Contents......Page 12 Prologue......Page 16 Part I: Servant Problems......Page 32 One: "Look Ma, the Real Aunt Jemima!": Consuming Identities under Capitalism......Page 34 Two: Biscuits Are Being Beaten: Craig Claiborne and the Epistemology of the Kitchen Dominatrix......Page 67 Part II: Soul Food and Black Masculinity......Page 90 Three: "Eating Chitterlings Is Like Going Slumming": Soul Food and Its Discontents......Page 92 Four: "Pork or Women": Purity and Danger in the Nation of Islam......Page 115 Five: Of Watermelon and Men: Dick Gregory's Cloacal Continuum......Page 139 Part III: Black Female Hunger......Page 166 Six: "My Kitchen Was the World": Vertamae Smart Grosvenor's Geechee Diaspora......Page 168 Seven: "How Mama Started to Get Large": Eating Disorders, Fetal Rights, and Black Female Appetite......Page 196 Epilogue......Page 224 Appendix: African American Cookbooks......Page 230 Chronological Bibliography of Cookbooks by African Americans......Page 234 Notes......Page 242 Works Cited......Page 266 A......Page 295 B......Page 296 D......Page 297 F......Page 298 G......Page 299 K......Page 300 M......Page 301 P......Page 302 S......Page 303 V......Page 304 Z......Page 305 Black Hunger looks how association of the African American women with food has helped structure twentieth-century U.S. psychic, cultural, sociopolitical, and economic life. Taking as her main focus .the debates over the authenticity of soul food during the tumultuous era of the late 1960's and early 1970's, Doris Witt locates complex practices of black intraracial othering in relation to an ongoing narrative of white fascination with black culture. The creation of the Aunt Jemima trademark from an 1889 performance of a play called ""The Emigrant"" helped codify a pervasive connection between African-American women and food. This work demonstrates how this connection has operated as a central structuring dynamic in 20th-century America