Womanish Girls and Black Girl Vulnerability in African American Women's Cultural Productions: 1970-2005 / Destiny Ariel Tenise Crockett.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Crockett, Destiny Ariel Tenise, author.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania. English, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American studies.

Literature.

Womens studies.

English--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--English.

Local Subjects:

African American studies.

Literature.

Womens studies.

English--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--English.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (211 pages)

Distribution:

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2023

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 84-12A.

Place of Publication:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania, 2022.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This dissertation argues that African American girls' displacement from normative standards of American childhood makes possible creative representations of African American girls that unsettle the fallacy of innocence. I consider displacement from Western childhood as something other than a loss, and I center what I characterize as resourceful vulnerability. By "the fallacy of innocence," I describe two related but distinct notions: first, distance from whatever might be considered politically controversial or morally complicated, and second, non-sexual character. Focusing on novels, photography, and selected archival materials produced between 1970-2005, my methodology puts close reading in dialogue with queer and Black feminist theorists. I write after Habiba Ibrahim's concept of Black age, and Hortense Spillers's concept of ungendering. I argue these concepts inform African American gender performance as it relates to innocence. Contributing to conversations in Black girlhood studies and queer theory as well as African American literary studies and visual culture, my project highlights that African American girls' vulnerability can be resourceful in ways that are intraculturally significant.

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 84-12, Section: A.

Advisors: Crawford, Margo N.; Committee members: White, Simone; Tillet, Salamishah; Woubshet, Dagmawi.

Department: English.

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2023.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798379753474

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.