Black British Writing

by Lauri Ramey, R. Arana (Editor)

Overview

This collection of essays provides an imaginative international perspective on ways to incorporate black British writing and culture in the study of English literature, and presents theoretically sophisticated and practical strategies for doing so. It offers a pedagogical, pragmatic and ideological introduction to the field for those without background, and an integrated body of current and stimulating essays for those who are already knowledgeable. Contributors to this volume include scholars and writers from Britain and the U.S. Following on recent developments in African American literature, postcolonial studies and race studies, the contributors invite readers to imagine an enhanced and inclusive British canon through varied essays providing historical information, critical analysis, cultural perspective, and extensive annotated bibliographies for further study.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403965554
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	09/14/2004
Edition description:	2004
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

LAURI RAMEY is Director of the Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, and Associate Professor of African American Literature and Culture and Creative Writing, at California State University, Los Angeles, USA.

VICTORIA ARANA is Professor of English at Howard University, Washington DC, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction; R.V.Arana & L.Ramey Narrating the Africanist Presence in the Early Modern Survey of English Literature; A.Kelly Sea Change: Historicizing the Scholarly Study of Black British Writing; R.V.Arana The Politics of Teaching Black and British; M.H.Lima The Evolution of Black London; J.Bryan Identity and Belonging in Contemporary Black British Writing; C.Weedon Transformations Within the Black British Novel; K.G.Sesay From Angry Dogs to Urban Griots: Contemporary Black British Writers, and the Case of Ben Okri; J.Chui Okpala The Black Man and the Dark Lady: The Imaginery African in Early Modern and Modern British Writers; A.J.Sumers A Black Briton's View of Black British Literature and Scholarship; T.Walters

Editorial Reviews

'Black British literary culture has given rise not only to an impressive body of bellistristic publications but has also since the last decade of the twentieth-century especially generated a growing field of scholarship intent on examining and celebrating its legacy and continued output. To this canon we must now add Victoria Arana and Lauri Ramey's edited collection of essays Black British Writing, a text that achieves its importance by offering critical analysis of the most recent generation of black British writers, which in contrast to earlier generations, situates itself and envisions the future of Britain in dramatically new terms.' - Winston Napier, Clark University, USA

'It's a book that opens up discussion and calls for strategic thinking and practical engagement with its ideas.' - Anita Franklin, Black Arts Alliance Newsletter

From the Publisher