The Black Body in Ecstasy: Reading Race, Reading Pornography
Jennifer C. Nash
(Author)
Description
In The Black Body in Ecstasy, Jennifer C. Nash rewrites black feminism's theory of representation. Her analysis moves beyond black feminism's preoccupation with injury and recovery to consider how racial fictions can create a space of agency and even pleasure for black female subjects. Nash's innovative readings of hardcore pornographic films from the 1970s and 1980s develop a new method of analyzing racialized pornography that focuses on black women's pleasures in blackness: delights in toying with and subverting blackness, moments of racialized excitement, deliberate enactments of hyperbolic blackness, and humorous performances of blackness that poke fun at the fantastical project of race. Drawing on feminist and queer theory, critical race theory, and media studies, Nash creates a new black feminist interpretative practice, one attentive to the messy contradictions-between delight and discomfort, between desire and degradation-at the heart of black pleasures.
Product Details
Price
$30.99
Publisher
Duke University Press
Publish Date
March 14, 2014
Pages
240
Dimensions
6.61 X 8.95 X 0.57 inches | 0.72 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780822356202
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Jennifer C. Nash is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Women's Studies at George Washington University.
Reviews
"The Black Body in Ecstasy is an excellent example of a 'loving critique' of a tense field...Nash's intentional, clear structuring and synthesis, and her fascinating interventions provide a solid basis for future scholars in this field."--Laura Abbasi-Lemmon "Journal of Gender Studies"
"[E]ssential reading for anyone seeking to understand new work on feminism, critical race studies, pornography, and film history."--Svati P. Shah "Women's Review of Books" (9/1/2015 12:00:00 AM)
"...[Nash's] alternative readings do give readers insight into the tropes within pornography, and into how certain films upset racist and sexist industry practices, as well as upsetting the Black feminist theoretical archive's theories of representation and resistance in favor of a Black feminist theory of sexual subjectivities of pleasure and ecstasy. Nash has earned her place among a new generation of Black feminist scholars" --Sherri L. Barnes "Feminist Collections" (8/1/2015 12:00:00 AM)
"The Black Body in Ecstasy poses a fresh set of questions as it forwards a groundbreaking black feminist approach to contending with representations of black women's ecstatic corporeality."--Jennifer DeClue "GLQ" (10/3/2016 12:00:00 AM)
"The Black Body in Ecstasy makes an important contribution, and is essential reading for anyone interested in how black women are depicted within hard-core visual pornography."--Fiona Proudfoot "Media International Australia" (12/13/2016 12:00:00 AM)
"[T]his work is a significant contribution to feminist porn studies and to the analysis of representations and images of black bodies and black female desire and sexuality. The Black Body in Ecstasy starts a new conversation within feminist porn studies, an original, provocative discussion of the multiple identities and ecstasies that can be located in instances of rupture in pornographic films."--Siobahn Stiles "Hypatia" (5/3/2017 12:00:00 AM)
"[E]ssential reading for anyone seeking to understand new work on feminism, critical race studies, pornography, and film history."--Svati P. Shah "Women's Review of Books" (9/1/2015 12:00:00 AM)
"...[Nash's] alternative readings do give readers insight into the tropes within pornography, and into how certain films upset racist and sexist industry practices, as well as upsetting the Black feminist theoretical archive's theories of representation and resistance in favor of a Black feminist theory of sexual subjectivities of pleasure and ecstasy. Nash has earned her place among a new generation of Black feminist scholars" --Sherri L. Barnes "Feminist Collections" (8/1/2015 12:00:00 AM)
"The Black Body in Ecstasy poses a fresh set of questions as it forwards a groundbreaking black feminist approach to contending with representations of black women's ecstatic corporeality."--Jennifer DeClue "GLQ" (10/3/2016 12:00:00 AM)
"The Black Body in Ecstasy makes an important contribution, and is essential reading for anyone interested in how black women are depicted within hard-core visual pornography."--Fiona Proudfoot "Media International Australia" (12/13/2016 12:00:00 AM)
"[T]his work is a significant contribution to feminist porn studies and to the analysis of representations and images of black bodies and black female desire and sexuality. The Black Body in Ecstasy starts a new conversation within feminist porn studies, an original, provocative discussion of the multiple identities and ecstasies that can be located in instances of rupture in pornographic films."--Siobahn Stiles "Hypatia" (5/3/2017 12:00:00 AM)
