Black Time and the Aesthetic Possibility of Objects

The post-soul era saw a shift in how we understand global racial representation, with Black literature, art, and music resisting singular and universal notions of identity. Daphne Lamothe's Black aesthetic time concept analyzes how race and time collide in cultural production, focusing on texts from the perspectives of immigrants, migrants, and city dwellers to conceptualize Blackness as a global phenomenon.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 09 January 2024
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press

The decades that followed the civil rights and decolonization movements of the 1960s and 1970s, known as the post-soul era, brought about innovative approaches to understanding the aesthetics of global racial representation. Daphne Lamothe demonstrates that Black literature, art, and music actively resisted the allure of singular and universal notions of racial identity, emerging as a powerful force from around 1980 to the present day. Building upon the concept of Black aesthetic time, a multifaceted theoretical framework that examines the interplay between race and time in the process of cultural production, Lamothe critically analyzes a selection of Black fiction, poetry, visual and musical texts by authors such as Paule Marshall, Zadie Smith, Tracy K. Smith, Dionne Brand, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Stromae. By exploring racial representation beyond national borders, or as she puts it, from the permeable and supple place of Black aesthetic time, Lamothe poses provocative questions about the potential expansion of our understanding of Blackness.

To achieve this, Lamothe deliberately selects texts that are narrated from the perspectives of immigrants, migrants, and city dwellers, thereby conceptualizing Blackness as a global phenomenon that transcends the boundaries of racialized experience. In this novel approach to analyzing Black global art, Lamothe highlights migratory subjects who exist at the thresholds between different worlds, eras, and selves. Through her meticulous analysis, Lamothe sheds light on the complexities and nuances of Black identity, challenging us to reimagine our understanding of race and culture in a rapidly changing world.

Weight: 324g
Dimension: 155 x 234 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781469675312