Staging Intersectionality: Power and Performance in American Cultural Texts, 1855-2019

<p>This study explores a diverse array of cultural texts, from literary representations to live performances, from the antebellum period to the contemporary moment,that highlight African-American women singer-celebrities navigating entertainment industries in the United States. Focusing on significant figures from the nineteenth century to the present including Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (the first prominently known Black woman singer in the antebellum period), Pauline Hopkins (the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century novelist and soprano), Sissieretta Jones (a twentieth-century soprano singer), and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (a contemporary singer-celebrity, songwriter, and producer), this study re-imagines the archive of Black singer-celebrities by centering Black women’s performances and voices to illuminate the diverse, nuanced representations of resistance and empowerment that Black women and singers enact, thus charting a new, nuanced historical trajectory of the development of Black women celebrities in American culture. I argue their multifaceted representations in various archives, from historical biographies and legal documents to social media and streaming services, provide ways of understanding the complex relationships between body and voice, performance, and social justice.</p> <p>Building on the research of Uri McMillan, Daphne Brooks, Carla L. Peterson, and Nell Irvin Painter, who analyze African-American women’s creative resistance to systems of white supremacy and sexism, this project extends ongoing scholarly conversations in literary, musicological, and historical studies to develop a praxis of staging intersectionality: intentionally using various materials including song lyrics, photographs, letters, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by and about African-American women singer-celebrities, to enrich and correct historical and popular cultural representations, and imagine new ways to approach American and celebrity studies.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

One-year Embargo

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Reznik, Alexandra

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kathy Glass
• Faith Barrett
• Laura Engel

• intersectionality
• African-American literature
• celebrity studies
• Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield
• Sissieretta Jones
• Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
• Pauline Hopkins
• American Popular Culture

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1821

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2822