Dialogues of Disperal Gender, Sexuality and African Diasporas (a Gender and History Special Issue)

From Brazil to Germany, New York to Ghana, Dialogues of Dispersal examines the intersections of gender and sexuality within Afro-diasporic communities. This interdisciplinary volume covers a broad chronological sweep, ranging from eighteenth-century slavery to twentieth-century social movements. The contributors provide innovative analyses of religion, popular culture, identity, maternalism, sartorial practices, and transnational networks. They interrogate colour and class issues, highlight the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, and explore the politics of narration, performance and recognition.

Dialogues of Dispersal marks a distinct departure from previous work in African Diaspora studies in its sustained analysis of how gender and sexuality complicate circuits of exchange. In the process, the volume underscores how diasporas are at once overlapping spheres of human experience and constructed sites of connection and engagement.

From the age of the European explorers to the present, Afro-diasporic communities have been created on every continent but Antarctica. In this collection of nine articles, contributors examine how gender and sexuality figure as elements of the diaspora and settlement, from the enormous impact of population shifts associated with eighteenth-century slavery to the formation of communities escaping current political upheavals. Topics include the secrets scholars kept about Yoruba-Atlantic religion, the dub poetry of Jean "Binta" Breeze, the influences of gender and hiphop on Afro-German activism, Creole performance art, colonial matriarchs, masculinity and ethnicity in French colonial New Orleans, Freemasonry and the production of Black middle-class masculinity, and a survey of electronic research materials on gender in the African diaspora.
Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

From Brazil to Germany, New York to Ghana, Dialogues of Dispersal examines intersections of gender and sexuality within Afro-diasporic communities.

Considers communities in Brazil, the Caribbean, Germany, the UK, the US and West Africa, and how they overlap.

Contains innovative analyses of knowledge production, globalization, popular culture, identity, colonialism, maternalism, dress, and transnational networks.

Features interdisciplinary work by both established and emerging scholars.

Acknowledges the accomplishments and the tensions of feminist scholarship and activism.

Encourages further research by highlighting the range of electronic research materials on African diasporas available on the Internet.

Sandra Gunning is Associate Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of Race, Rape and Lynching: The Red Record of American Literature (1996) and co-editor of ‘The Marrow of Tradition’ (2002).

Tera W. Hunter is Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University. She is the author of To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After the Civil War (1997) and co-editor of African American Urban Studies: Perspectives from the Colonial Period to the Present (2004).

Michele Mitchell is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of The Nation Reproduced: African Americans and the Politics of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction (2004).

1. Gender, Sexuality, and African Diasporas: Sandra Gunning, Tera W. Hunter and Michele Mitchell.

2. Gendered Agendas: The Secrets Scholars Keep about Yorùbá-Atlantic Religion: J. Lorand Matory.

3. Cartographies of Globalisation, Technologies of Gendered Subjectivities: The Dub Poetry of Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze: Jenny Sharpe.

4. ‘If You Can't Pronounce My Name, You Can Just Call Me Pride’: Afro-German Activism, Gender and Hip Hop: Fatima El-Tayeb.

5. Creole Performance in Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands: Rhonda Frederick.

6. Colonial Matriarchs: Garveyism, Maternalism, and Belize's Black Cross Nurses, 1920–1952: Anne Macpherson.

7. ‘Wearing three or four handkerchiefs around his collar, and elsewhere about him’: Slaves' Constructions of Masculinity and Ethnicity in French Colonial New Orleans: Sophie White.

8. Diasporic Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transnational Production of Black Middle-Class Masculinity: Martin Summers.

9. Gender in the African Diaspora: Electronic Research Materials: Patrick Manning.

Notes on Contributors