Thinking through crisis: 1930s African American literature and politics
by Ford, James Edward, Iii, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, 2009, 324 pages; 3441727

Abstract:

In this dissertation I challenge accepted literary history that 1930s black intellectuals were uncritical followers of mainstream American Communism. I assert that the literature of Richard Wright, Ida B Wells, and W.E.B. Du Bois are representative of black radicalism’s unique engagement with Depression-era politics. Through close readings of their literature, alongside other cultural productions, I conceptualize “crisis” as a tool for analyzing the contradictory emergences of alternative agencies in moments of social breakdown. In doing so, I challenge theoretical assumptions, epitomized in trauma theory, that overwhelming experiences are beyond comprehension. I also challenge historical teleologies that predetermine when a crisis will occur, who will act, and the outcome of that action, as in Marxist narratives of revolution. What results is a non-teleological theorization of agency and social change.
 
AdviserJoseph Buttigieg
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
SourceDAI/A 72-04, p. , Feb 2011
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsAfrican American studies; Black history; American literature
Publication Number3441727
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