Cultural Moves: African Americans and the Politics of Representation (American Crossroads Book 15)

Herman Gray takes a sweeping look at black popular culture over the past decade to explore culture's role in the push for black political power and social recognition. In a series of linked essays, he finds that black artists, scholars, musicians, and others have been instrumental in reconfiguring social and cultural life in the United States and he provocatively asks how black culture can now move beyond a preoccupation with inclusion and representation. Gray considers how Wynton Marsalis and his creation of a jazz canon at Lincoln Center acted to establish cultural visibility and legitimacy for jazz. Other essays address such topics as the work of the controversial artist Kara Walker; the relentless struggles for representation on network television when those networks are no longer the primary site of black or any other identity; and how black musicians such as Steve Coleman and George Lewis are using new technology to shape and extend black musical traditions and cultural identities. "Examines the importance of culture in the push for black political power and social recognition and argues the key black cultural practices have been notable in reconfiguring the shape and texture of social and cultural life in the U.S. Drawing on examples from jazz, television, and academia, Gray highlights cultural strategies for inclusion in the dominant culture as well as cultural tactics that move beyond the quest for mere recognition by challenging, disrupting, and unsettling dominant cultural representations and institutions. In the end, Gray challenges the conventional wisdom about the centrality of representation and politics in black cultural production"--Provided by publisher Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part I . Strategies 1. The New Conditions Of Black Cultural Production 2. Jazz Tradition, Institutional Formation, And Cultural Practice 3. The Jazz Left Part II . Tactics 4. Where Have All The Black Shows Gone? 5. Television And The Politics Of Difference 6. Different Dreams, Dreams Of Difference 7. Cultural Politics As Outrage(Ous) Part Iii . Moves 8. Is (Cyber) Space The Place? 9. Music, Identity, And New Technology Conclusion: Cultural Moves Notes Bibliography Index