Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads

(Paperback)

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In their search for a relationship, whether long- or short-term, how do desiring subjects signify their identities and those of their desiring subjects The essays in Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads take up this question by exploring how writers of personal ads fashion themselves and those with whom they seek a connection. More specifically, these essays explore the politics of desirehow complex intersections among the social categories of race, gender and sexuality within personal ads reveal a dynamic tapestry of power relations and hierarchies. By focusing on how, in each instance, African Americans both construct and are constructed discursively in the brief narrative space of personals, this collection offers a substantively new genre-based exploration of the politics of desire and makes an important contribution to studies of language and self; identity politics; cultural studies; gendered, sexualized and racialized discourses; and the performance of everyday texts that occupy scholarly attention in a variety of different disciplines. Those interested in American Cultural Studies, African American Studies, Sociology, Communication, Rhetoric, Queer Studies, Critical Race Theory, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, and Race Relations on a professional or lay basis will find this book informative and engaging.

Reviews

Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads, edited by Neal A. Lester and Maureen Daly Goggin, provides critical insights into how African Americans influence and are influenced by American popular culture during the computer age. Using the oftenraw, radical, bold, unabashed, and edgy language of these ads contributors move this medium, through carefully written and well-researched scholarly articles beyond what might be perceived as not so veiled pornography to study, deconstruct, and assess thedeeper questions and issues related to race, class and gender problematize in these narratives. Significantly, these scholars break the taboo and silence often associated with the spectrum of black sexuality, sexual preference and sexual orientation, moving these topics beyond reductive stereotypes and essentialism to a more complex, dynamic an anti-essentialist view and level. Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads crosses several boundaries to challenges the popularly held belief that African American contributions to contemporary American popular culture is limited to rap and hip hop. Each essays bears witness to the complexity of black life in our post modern world. -- Wilfred D. Samuels, associate professor of English and ethnic studies at University of Utah
Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads, edited by Neal A. Lester and Maureen Daly Goggin, provides critical insights into how African Americans influence and are influenced by American popular culture during the computer age. Using the often raw, radical, bold, unabashed, and edgy language of these ads contributors move this medium, through carefully written and well-researched scholarly articles beyond what might be perceived as not so veiled pornography to study, deconstruct, and assess the deeper questions and issues related to race, class and gender problematize in these narratives. Significantly, these scholars break the taboo and silence often associated with the spectrum of black sexuality, sexual preference and sexual orientation, moving these topics beyond reductive stereotypes and essentialism to a more complex, dynamic an anti-essentialist view and level. Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads crosses several boundaries to challenges the popularly held belief that African American contributions to contemporary American popular culture is limited to rap and hip hop. Each essays bears witness to the complexity of black life in our post modern world. -- Wilfred D. Samuels, associate professor of English and ethnic studies at University of Utah

Author Bio

Maureen Daly Goggin is professor of rhetoric and Neal A. Lester is professor of English, both at Arizona State University.