The Postmodern Self in 21st Century Women o f Color Writings
Abdurrahmani T.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
10-11
INTRODUCTION
12-22
1.
POSTMODERN SELVES, BLACK IDENTITIES, FEMALE BODIES
22-46
1.1.
Subjectivity, Past and Present
22-23
Periodization o f the " S e l f Concept
24-26
1.2.
1.2.1.
The S e l f Concept. Classicism To Modernism
24-25
1.2.2.
The Postmodern Conceptions o f the Self.
26-27
1.3.
Self under the Scientific and Religious Lenses
27-30
1.4.
The Autobiographical Self
30-32
1.5.
The Multidimensional Self
1.5.1.
32-46
The Female S e l f
32-35
1.5.2.
Black Selves Ethnic Identities
36-37
1.5.3.
S e l f and the Sense o f the Other
37-40
1.5.4.
Bodily Dimensions o f the Self.
40-41
1.5.5.
S e l f a n d Language
41-42
1.5.6.
S e l f a n d Memory
42-44
1.5.7.
S e l f a n d History
44-45
1.6.
Chapter Conclusions
45-46
2. THE TEXTURE OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY: DEFINITIONS, TRAITS,
CONTROVERSIES
47-65
2.1.
Tentative Definitions, Autobiographical Forms and Practices
47-49
2.2.
The Autobiography Critique: Periodization, Tenets and Criticism
49-54
2.3.
Finding a Niche o f O n e s Own: Autobiography and The Female Dimension
54-56
http://d-nb.info/1036421945
The Postmodern Self in 21st Century Women o f Color Writings
Abdurrahmani T.
2 3 . T h e Female Autograph: Differences Between the Male and Female Discourse in
Autobiographical Writings
2.4.
56-58
Shattered Mirrors in the "Promised Land": Representation in the Black Autobiography
58-60
l A A . W h i t e and Black Female Autobiography Compared
2.5.
2.6
60-61
Literary Experimentation and Cultural Strangulation: Autobiography as a Collage of
Postmodern Life
61-64
2.5.1 .Postmodernism a n d the Status o f Autobiography
61-62
2.5.2. A Woman's A utobiography a n d Postmodernism
62-64
Chapter conclusions
64-65
3. TRIANGULAR LINKAGES AND "THE HOUSE OF DIFFERENCE". THE
POSTMODERN SELF IN AUDRE LORDE'S ZAMI: A N E W SPELLING O F M Y
NAME(1982)
3.1.
65-96
Affirming Critical Difference: Self and Other in Audre Lorde's Zami:
A New Spelling o fm y Name
3.1.1. Otherness a n d the Color Complex
66-85
69-71
3.1.2. Border Crossings a n d Initiation Rites. Naming in Audre Lorde's Zami:
A New Spelling o f M y Name
72
3.1.3. Queering a n d Lesbianism in Zami
72-75
3.1.4. Re-Writing Home: Audre Lorde a n d the Matrilineal Diaspora
75-80
3.1.5. The "House "of the "Self. Displacement a n d the "Journey Woman" in Zami
80-85
3.2.
Corporeal Materiality and Lesbian Eroticism in Audre Lorde Zami:
A New Spelling o f M y Name(J982)
3.3.
85-91
Ancestral Origins, Memory and the Multigenre in Audre Lorde's Autobiography
91-95
3.4.
Chapter Conclusions
95-96
The Postmodern Self in 21st Century Women o f Color Writings
Abdurrahmani T.
POSTMODERN BLACKNESS AND SELF-RECOVERY in bell hooks' BONE BLACK:
MEMORIES O F GIRLHOOD(1996)
96-115
4.1. Unfathomable Depths and "Blackened" Alterity. "Self "and "Other"
in hooks' Bone Black
4.1.1. Quiltwork "Patches " o f Identity. Otherness in hooks 'Autobiography
98-110
99-105
4.1.2. Weaving the Matrilineal Tapestry.
Daughterly Daydreams a n d Motherly Nightmares in Bone Black
4.1.3. Homeplace and "Belonging" in bell hooks' Bone Black
106-110
110-111
4.2. The "Cave" Within. Body Geography and Spiritual Spatiality in bell hooks
111-112
4.3. The "Hope Chest" and Childhood Memories in Bone Black
112-115
4.4. Chapter Conclusions
115-116
POSTMODERN "BRUSHWORK" and POINTILLISTIC SELF EFFECTS IN VERONICA
CHAMBER'S MAMA'S GIRL. (1996)
116-137
5.1. Pontillism and the Fragmented, Postmodern Self in Veronica Chambers Mama's Girl
117-119
5.2. Dimensions o f Self and Otherness in Veronica Chamber's Memoir
119-134
5.2.1. Divergent Replicas a n d ""Mothering" Daughters. S e l f and Matrilinealism in
Veronica ChambersMama's Girl
119-126
5.2.2. Remapping Family Relationships. S e l f & the Others in Veronica Chamber's
Mama's Girl
126-128
5.2.3. Genderism, Colorism andMuIticulturalism in Veronica Chamber's Narrative
128-131
5.2.4. Hardened Lives:
Latino-American Dislocations in Veronica Chambers 'Autobiography
131-133
5.2.5. Anchoring the Postmodern Self.
Body Modification in Veronica ChambersMama's Girl
133-135
The Postmodern Self in 21SI Century Women o f Color Writings
Abdurrahmani T.
5.3. Writing a N e w Story o f Oneself. The Fictionalization o f Life and Narrative in Veronica
Chamber's Mama's Girl
135-137
5.4. Chapter Conclusions
137-138
6. POSTMODERN HYBRIDITY AND PATCHWORK SELF IN REBECCA WALKER'S
BLACK, WHITE AND JEWISH.(2000)
138-160
6.1. Familiar Outsiderhood. Otherness in Rebecca Walker s Black, White & Jewish(2000)
139-148
6.1.1 ."Mestizo Daughters"'and "Cultural Electras": Transborder Matrilienage in
Rebecca Walker's Black, White & Jewish (2000)
139-145
6A.2.Making Peace with the "In-Between": Displacement a n d the Politics of
Location in Rebecca Walker's Autobiography
145-148
6.2. Hybrid Spaces and Borderland Corporeality. The Postmodernn Self and Body in
Rebecca Walker
6.3. Memory and Cultural Politics in Rebecca Walker's Black, White a n d Jewish
149-151
151-160
6.4. Chapter Conclusions
160
7. NAVIGATING THROUGH THE COLOR COMPLEX. THE POSTMODERN SELF IN
MARITA GOLDEN'S DON'T P L A Y I N THE SUN: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE COLOR
COMPLEX (2004)
161-186
7.1. Transplanted Identities: The Multiple Dimensions ofMarita Golden's Don't Play in The
Sun: A Journey Through the Color Complex(2004)
162-176
7.1.1..Motherly "Walking Shoes " : S e l f a n d Matrilinealism in Don't Play in the Sun
164-166
7.1.2 Alterity a n d Conditioned Transcendence. S e l f a n d Other in Marita Golden's
Autobiography
166-170
7.1.3. Convex lenses. Colorism a n d Intra- Racial Discrimination in Marita Golden's
Narrative
170-174
1 A A."Journeying Selves " and Diverging Cultures. S e l f a n d Location in
Marita Golden's Autobiography
175-176
The Postmodern Self in 21st Century Women o f Color Writings
Abdurrahmani T.
7.2. Skin Fetishism and Body Objectification in Marita Golden's Autobiography
176-182
7.3. Postcard Reminscences and Permeable Narrative Borders.
Self and Memory in Rebecca Walker's Black, White and Jewish(2004)
7.4. Chapter Conclusions
CONCLUSIONS
182-185
185-186
186-191
APPENDIX 1: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY FROM SLAVES TO PRESIDENTS
192-194
APPENDIX 2: AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE. BETWEEN MAINSTREAM AND
MARGIN ALIZATION
195-199
APPENDIX 3: MUFFLED VOICES, STRIDENT FEATS. FEMINISM IN THE UNITED
STATE
199-203
3.1.The "Black" Face o f Feminism in The United States
200-202
3.2.Feminism and Lesbianism
202-203
ENDNOTES
204-208
WORKS CITED
209-222