Optimism at all costs : Black attitudes, activism, and advancement in Obama's America / Lessie B. Branch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Branch, Lessie B., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Obama, Barack--Influence.

Obama, Barack.

African Americans--Attitudes.

African Americans.

African Americans--Economic conditions--21st century.

African Americans--Social conditions--21st century.

Race relations.

History.

African Americans--Social conditions.

African Americans--Economic conditions.

United States--Race relations--History--21st century.

United States.

Physical Description:

xii, 141 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, [2018]

Summary:

While many leaders rallied behind the Black president and the Black community felt optimistic on the whole, statistic reveal a decline in Black Americans' economic fortunes and a slower recovery from the recession in the years that followed. Lessie B. Branch confronts the tension between Black Americans' economic realities and the hope many felt for the future looking at survey data alongside the rhetoric of leading Black figures, including president Obama. This disparity has caused a dangerous resistance to social activism as discourse of optimism privilege individual success over the need for collective action Branch see the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement as a constructive change in this dynamic. As Americans continue to grapple with complicated questions of race and progress in classrooms, in the media, and in legislatures, this short, provocative book will inform and enrich these important discussion Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: The Paradoxical Ebullience Problem

Post-Racial Theories of Racial Inequality

Critical Discourse Analysis and Narratives of Race

Ebullience and Action in Black Discourse

Social Knowledge and Black "Progress"

Black America at the End of the Obama Era.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Branch, Lessie B. Optimism at all costs.

ISBN:

9781625343260

1625343264

9781625343277

1625343272

OCLC:

1012342826