The birth of a princess: Boughetto, popular media, and the shifting boundaries of Black middle-class femininity / Gretta Moody Blackwell.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Blackwell, Gretta Moody, author.

Contributor:

Jackson, John L., Jr., 1971- degree supervisor, degree committee member.

Turrow, Joseph, degree committee member.

Pearl, Sharrona, degree committee member.

University of Pennsylvania. Department of Communication, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Communication.

Communication--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Communication.

Communication--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

vi, 311 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania, 2016.

Summary:

"The Birth of a Princess" names and unpacks an emergent type in twenty-first century popular media, the boughetto princess. As a liminal or hybrid figure, the boughetto princess, who is black, middle-class, and female, is tensely positioned at the margin-of black and white, decent and street, lady and harlot. She is both "bougie" and "ghetto" and at the same time neither "bougie" nor "ghetto." Using textual and visual analysis, I analyze a series of early twenty-first century media discourses to better understand the performative repertoire (e.g. appearance, demeanor, and whereabouts), cultural influence, and political significance of the boughetto princess. The project begins with a comparison of the boughetto princess and late-19th century depictions of the "uppity negress." Then, the analysis centers and unpacks three case studies-The Real Housewives of Atlanta's Phaedra, ATL's Erin/New-New, and pop star Beyoncé. A critical, intersectional reading of each case allows me to peel back the layers of the type, revealing the ways it unsettles and reimagines conventional representations of black middle class femininity. Each case is contextualized within the present socio-historical moment, which I characterize as rife with "posts" (e.g. notions of post-raciality, post-blackness, and post-feminism). Ultimately, I argue the boughetto princess' existence in the middle forces the figure to revise the behavioral and sartorial standards commonly expected of black middle class women. This act of revision proves both progressive and regressive. In the end, through her rejection of traditional notions of "respectability" and contemporary celebrations of "irreverence," the figure suggests honesty offers a third way-another method for using performances of self to address socio-cultural concerns within black communities. This project helps to address the paucity of literature in media studies that centers the black middle class, even as it engages with debates in black feminist and Africana studies about the value of respectability politics in the twenty-first century.

Notes:

Ph. D. University of Pennsylvania 2016.

Department: Communication.

Supervisor: John L. Jackson, Jr.

Includes bibliographical references.

OCLC:

969570160