It is difficult to be sure of how or when, but there is no question
that the superficial and metaphoric difference between
various groups of human beings adversely affected the ideological
figurations of race in the Americas. As we now
know, race has never been a fixed concept, but an ever evolving
idea intimately connected to the social, moral, and
biological landscape of American society. It is the latterthe
biological landscape of Americathat anchors this collection.
In particular this collection investigates the ways in
which America, through its literary, scientific, social, and
legal cultures, sought to define itself through the black
body, and how these racial imaginings reveal the tenuous ties
that connect American identity to these ideals. These representations
are multifaceted: from the phenomenological depictions
of the body vis-a-vis inanimate objects, to the
material/cultural artifacts that seek to re-present the black
body in public spaces vis-a-vis the literary marketplace and
the court room. Authors examined include Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Derrick Bell, William Dean Howells, Toni Morrison,
Jesse Fauset, Kate Chopin, and Danzy Senna.
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