Racialized Politics of Desire in Personal Ads

by Neal A. Lester, Maureen Daly Goggin, Trudier Harris, Thelma Richard, Karyn Riedell

Overview

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 desire—how 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739122075
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	01/17/2008
Pages:	207
Product dimensions:	6.45(w) x 9.41(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction. Trapped in Lines and Language: Distorted Selves in Personal Ads Chapter 3 Chapter 1. "EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!" Constructions of Heterosexual Black Male Identities in the Personals Chapter 4 Chapter 2. In Living Color: Politics of Desire in Heterosexual Interracial Black/White Personal Ads Chapter 5 Chapter 3. Black Gay Men Seeking Black Gay Men: Cultural and Historical Implications Chapter 6 Chapter 4. Personal Ads and the Intersection of Race and Same-Sex Male Attraction Chapter 7 Chapter 5. SBF Seeks Miss Afrekete: Authentic Lesbians and Same-Sex Desire in the Personals Chapter 8 Chapter 6. Ethnic Chasers, Auntie Toms, and E(gal)itarians: Black Females Seeking and Being Sought by White Females Chapter 9 Chapter 7. "The 21st Century Option to Meet and Socialize": Discursive Conventions of Black Heterosexual Male Identities in Match.com Chapter 10 Chapter 8. Afterword

Editorial 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

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

From the Publisher