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Full Description
During the antebellum period, slave owners weaponized southern Black joy to argue for enslavement, propagating images of "happy darkies." In contrast, abolitionists wielded sorrow by emphasizing racial oppression. Both arguments were so effective that a political uneasiness on the subject still lingers. In The Politics of Black Joy, Lindsey Stewart wades into these uncomfortable waters by analyzing Zora Neale Hurston's uses of the concept of Black southern joy. Stewart develops Hurston's contributions to political theory and philosophy of race by introducing the politics of joy as a refusal of neo-abolitionism, a political tradition that reduces southern Black life to tragedy or social death. To develop the politics of joy, Stewart draws upon Zora Neale Hurston's essays, Beyoncé's Lemonade, and figures across several disciplines including Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Toni Morrison, Angela Davis, Saidiya Hartman, Imani Perry, Eddie Glaude, and Audra Simpson. The politics of joy offers insights that are crucial for forming needed new paths in our current moment. For those interested in examining popular conceptions of Black political agency at the intersection of geography, gender, class, and Black spirituality, The Politics of Black Joy is essential reading.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Trouble of Black Southern Joy
Scene 1: "I Ain't Thinkin' 'Bout You"
Chapter 1: "Sing[ing] a Song to the Morning": The Politics of Joy
Scene 2: "The Past and the Future Merge to Meet us Here"
Chapter 2: "An Object of Pity": Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Rise of Abolitionism
Scene 3: "She Don't Gotta Give It Up, She Professional"
Chapter 3: "Tak[ing] the Indian Position": Hurston within and against the Abolitionist Tradition
Scene 4: "Slay Trick, or You Get Eliminated"
Chapter 4: "Winning [Our] War from Within": Moving beyond Resistance
Conclusion: The Politics of Joy in the Time of the Coronavirus
Notes
Bibliography
Index
