Venus in the dark : blackness and beauty in popular culture
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Venus in the dark : blackness and beauty in popular culture
Routledge, 2005
- : hardcover
- : softcover
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [161]-169) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hardcover ISBN 9780415974011
Description
Western culture has long been fascinated by black women, but a history of enslavement and colonial conquest has variously labeled black women's bodies as "exotic" and "grotesque." In this remarkable cultural history of black female beauty, Janell Hobson explores the enduring figure of the "Hottentot Venus."
In 1810, Saartjie Baartman was taken from South Africa to Europe, where she was put on display at circuses, salons, and museums and universities as the "Hottentot Venus." The subsequent legacy of representations of black women's sexuality-from Josephine Baker to Serena Williams to hip-hop and dancehall videos-continues to refer back to this persistent icon. This book analyzes the history of critical and artistic responses to this iconography by black women in contemporary photography, film, literature, music, and dance.
Table of Contents
1. Visualizing the Black Female Body: An introduction Is the Black Female Body Beautiful? The Body of Saartjie Baartman, the "Hottentot Venus" Chapter Outline 2. Venus and the Hottentot: Toward a racial anatomy of beauty In Search of Black Venus The Savage Hottentot Making Sense of the Hottentot Venus Exhibition(s) Conclusion: Her legacy? 3. Why Saartjie Baartman Matters: Contemporary discourse on the Hottentot Venus Colonial "Remains", Post-colonial Debates: South African politics and the Hottentot Venus The Hottentot Venus Revisited Reframing the Body of Saartjie Baartman: Revisionist history or re-objectifiation? Conclusion: Toward a black feminist theory of the body 4. "Beloved in the Dark": A sexual history of race Black Female Sexuality: The problem of articulation Theorizing Black Female Sexuality in Toni Morrison's "Beloved" Playing in the Dark: From Morrison to Kara Walker Conclusion: Toward and emancipated body 5. The "Batty" Politic: Toward an aesthetic of the black female body Disabling Bodies Race, Gender and Aesthetics Struggling to See Ourselves Conclusion: The batty as site of resistance Epilogue
- Volume
-
: softcover ISBN 9780415974028
Description
Western culture has long been fascinated by black women, but a history of enslavement and colonial conquest has variously labeled black women's bodies as "exotic" and "grotesque." In this remarkable cultural history of black female beauty, Janell Hobson explores the enduring figure of the "Hottentot Venus."
In 1810, Saartjie Baartman was taken from South Africa to Europe, where she was put on display at circuses, salons, and museums and universities as the "Hottentot Venus." The subsequent legacy of representations of black women's sexuality-from Josephine Baker to Serena Williams to hip-hop and dancehall videos-continues to refer back to this persistent icon. This book analyzes the history of critical and artistic responses to this iconography by black women in contemporary photography, film, literature, music, and dance.
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