Read The Michael Eric Dyson Reader Online
Authors: Michael Eric Dyson
1
. I do not mean here a theory of commodification that does not accentuate the forms of agency that can function even within restrictive and hegemonic cultural practices. Rather, I think that, contrary to elitist and overly pessimistic Frankfurt School readings of the spectacle of commodity within mass cultures, common people can exercise “everyday forms of resistance” to hegemonic forms of cultural knowledge and practice. For an explication of the function of everyday forms of resistance, see Scott,
Domination and the Arts of Resistance .
2
. For a critical look at Jordan behind the myth, see Sam Smith,
The Jordan Rules
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992).
| Chapter | Previous Publication |
| 1. | Not from Some Racial Zeus’s Head: My Intellectual Development . From Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion (New York: Basic Civitas, 2003), pp. 3–22. |
| 2. | Letter to My Brother, Everett, in Prison . From Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 3–21. |
| 3. | This I Believe . From Quest , Spring, 1971, p. 31. |
| 4. | The Liberal Theory of Race . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 132–143. Originally published in Z Magazine , Vol. 2, No. 3, March 1989, pp. 52–57. |
| 5. | When You’re a Credit to Your Race, the Bill Will Come Due: O.J. Simpson and Our Trial by Fire . From Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line (Reading, MA: AddisonWesley, 1996), pp. 10–46. |
| 6. | Debating Affirmative Action . Recorded at Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania, February 11, 2003. |
| 7. | A Reprieve for Affirmative Action . From Philadelphia Inquirer , June 25, 2003, p. A15. |
| 8. | Leonard Jeffries and the Struggle for the Black Mind . From Reflecting Black: African- American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1993), pp. 157–163. Originally published in Emerge , February 1992, pp. 32–37. |
| 9. | Shakespeare and Smokey Robinson: Revisiting the Culture Wars . From Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 120–134. |
| 10. | The Labor of Whiteness, the Whiteness of Labor, and the Perils of Whitewishing . From Audacious Democracy: Labor, Intellectuals, and the Social Reconstruction of America, eds. Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman (Boston: Mariner Books, 1997), pp. 164–172. |
| 11. | Giving Whiteness a Black Eye . From Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion (New York: Basic Civitas, 2003), pp. 99–125. Originally published in White Reign: Deploying Whiteness in America , ed. Joe Kincheloe et al (New York: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd., 1998), pp. 299–328. |
| 12. | The Plight of Black Men . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1993), pp. 182–194. Originally published in Z Magazine , Vol. 2, No. 2, February 1989, pp. 51–56. |
| 13. | Another Saturday Night, or Have All the Brothers Gone to White Women ? From Why I Love Black Women (New York: Basic Civitas, 2003), pp. 195–232. |
| 14. | In O.J.’s Shadow: Kobe Bryant’s Predicament . From Savoy , October 2003, pp. 64, 66, 68. |
| 15. | “God Almighty Has Spoken from Washington, D.C.”: American Society and Christian Faith . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1993), pp. 286–319. Originally published in DePaul Law Review , Vol. 42, No. 1, Fall 1992, pp. 129–159. |
| 16. | Gardner Taylor: The Poet Laureate of the American Pulpit . From Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 40–55. Originally published in The Christian Century , Vol. 112, No. 1, January 4–11, 1995, pp. 12–16. |
| 17. | “Somewhere I Read of the Freedom of Speech”: Constructing a Unique Voice . From I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: Free Press, 2000), pp. 137–154. |
| 18. | When You Divide Body and Soul, Problems Multiply: The Black Church and Sexuality . From Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1996), pp. 77–108. |
| 19. | Homotextualities . From Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion (New York: Basic Civitas, 2003), pp. 360–384. |
| 20. | X Marks the Plots: A Critical Reading of Malcolm’s Readers . From Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 21–76. Originally published in Social Text 35, Spring 1993, pp. 25–55. |
| 21. | Mixed Blessings: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Lessons of an Ambiguous Heroism . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 221–246. Originally published in earlier form in Union Seminary Quarterly Review , Vol. 44, Nos. 1–2, 1990, pp. 85–99. |
| 22. | “Give Me a Paper and Pen”: Tupac’s Place in Hip-Hop . From Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur (New York: Basic Civitas, 2001), pp. 105–139. |
| 23. | Spike Lee’s Neonationalist Vision . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 23–31. Originally published in Tikkun , Vol. 4, No. 5, September/October 1989, pp. 75–78. |
| 24. | Between Apocalypse and Redemption: John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 90–110. Originally published in Film Theory Goes To The Movies . Ed. Jim Collins et al (New York: Routledge, 1993), pp. 209–226. |
| 25. | Ghettocentricity and the New Black Cinema . From The Subversive Imagination: Artists, Society and Social Responsibility. Ed. Carol Becker (New York: Routledge, 1994), pp. 154–167. |
| 26. | The Promise and Perils of Contemporary Gospel Music . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 322–327. Originally published in The New York Times , December 22, 1991, pp. 30–31. |
| 27. | Mariah Carey and “Authentic” Black Music . From Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 143–146. Originally published in The New York Times , February 13, 1994, Section 2 (Arts & Leisure), p. 30. |
| 28. | Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and Me . From Why I Love Black Women (New York: Basic Civitas, 2003), pp. 46–56. |
| 29. | The Great Next: Jazz Origins and the Anatomy of Improvisation . From Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion (New York: Basic Civitas, 2003), pp. 179–206. |
| 30. | The Culture of Hip-Hop . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 3–15. Originally published in Z Magazine , June 1989. |
| 31. | Gangsta Rap and American Culture . From Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 176–186. |
| 32. | We Never Were What We Used to Be: Black Youth, Pop Culture, and the Politics of Nostalgia . From Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line (Reading, MA: AddisonWesley, 1996), pp. 109–149. |
| 33. | Michael Jackson’s Postmodern Spirituality . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 35–60. Originally published in Black Sacred Music: A Journal of Theomusicology , Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 1989, pp. 98–124. |
| 34. | Be Like Mike? Michael Jordan and the Pedagogy of Desire . From Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 64–75. Originally published in Cultural Studies , Vol. 7, No. 1, January 1993, pp. 64–72. |
| 35. | Is Postmodernism Just Modernism in Drag ? From Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion (New York: Basic Civitas, 2003), pp. 151–178. |
| 36. | It’s Not What You Know, It’s How You Show It: Black Public Intellectuals . From Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1996), pp. 47–76. |
Aaron, Hank
Abdul, Paula
Abuse, physical
allegation of King’s
child abuse
Kobe Bryant’s alleged sexual abuse
Academic life
Addiction to tabloids, author’s
Adler, Margot
Adolescence.
See
Childhood and adolescence
Adultery
Advertising industry
marketing Michael Jordan
sports figures
use of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Aeolian Hall concert
Aesthetic alienation of hip-hop culture
Affirmative action
as reverse racism
college admissions policy
neoconservative black stance on
Aframnesia
African culture: origins of jazz
African Origin of Biological Psychiatry
(King)
Afrocentricity
(Asante)
Aging
Air Jordan
Alexander, Margaret Walker
Ali, Muhammad
Ali, Shahrazad
Allen, Theodore
American Civil War
American Revolution
Anger
at humiliating behavior of whites
white male anger
Anson, Robert Sam
Antimiscegenation laws
Arendt, Hannah
Armstrong, Louis
Armstrong, Vanessa Bell
Art,
See also
Music
Asante, Molefi Kete
ASCAP
Asian Americans
Assassination
Malcolm X
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Assimilation theory
Athletes
Kobe Bryant
Michael Jordan
O.J. Simpson
virtue transcending sports
See also
Sports
Atwater, Lee
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Awards
Bacharach, Burt
Bad (video)
Bailey, Harold
Baker, Anita
Bakke case
Baldwin, James
Bambaataa, Afrika
Baraka, Amiri
Baseball
Basketball
Bassett, Angela
Baxter, Michael
Bebop
Behar, Joy
Beiderbecke, Bix
The Bell Curve
(Herrnstein and Murray)
Benjamin, Playthell
Bennett, Lerone
Bennett, William
Bernal, Martin
Berry, Halle
Best Intentions
(Anson)
Betweener generation
Bing, Leon
Biological determinism
Biracialism
Black, Cordell
Black art controversy
Black Athena:
The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization
(Bernal)
Black Entertainment Television (BET)
Black History Month
The Blackman s Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman
(Ali)
Black Reconstruction
(Du Bois)
Blige, Mary J.
Bloom, Harold
Blues music
Body, human
black masculinity
body-centered culture
commodification of Michael Jordan
fashionable nature of blacks
Boggs, James
Bok, Derek
Boozer, Jack
Bourgie blacks
Boxing
Boyz N the Hood
(1991)
Bradley, Michael
Bray, Rosemary
Breitman, George
Bricolage
Brightman, Edgar
Brokaw, Tom
Brotherhood
Brown, James
Brown, Jamie
Brown, Jim
Brown, Robert McAfee
Brown University
Bruce, Tammy
Bryant, Kobe
Burdette, Otis
Burns, Khephra
Bush, George W.
Buttrick, George
By Any Means Necessary
(Malcolm X)
Caesar, Shirley
Calloway, Vanessa Bell
Capitalism
Carey, Mariah
Caribbean music
Carnival
Carson, Clayborne
Carson-Newman College
Carter, Jimmy
Carter, Maria Agui
Casanova complex
Catholic Church scandal
Censorship of gangsta rap
Character, evolution of
Charles, Ray
Chennault, Ronald E.
Chicago, Illinois
Childhood and adolescence
author’s upbringing
discipline versus abuse
of Malcolm X
Christianity.
See
Religion
Church-state relations
Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology
(Diop)
Civil religion
Civil Rights Act (1964)
Civil rights movement
Clarke, John Henrik
Class.
See
Socioeconomic status
Cleage, Albert
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, George
Cochran, Johnnie
Cockrel, Kenneth
Cohen, Carl
Cohen, William
College admissions
Collier, James Lincoln
Collins, Lisa
Colonialism
Colors
(1988)
Coltrane, John
Coming of age.
See
Childhood and adolescence
Common
Community:
Boyz N the Hood
Cone, James
Congo Square, New Orleans
Congreve, William
Constitution, U.S.
Consumerism: consumption of Michael Jordan
Cooke, Sam
Cooley High
(Schultz)
Cowlings, A.C.
Cox, Oliver
Crack cocaine
Cranbrook School
Cray, Robert
Creole people
Cress-Welsing, Frances
Crime
evolution of drug and gang culture in the ghetto
portrayed in film
See also
Homicide; Violence
Cross, Ted
Crouch, Andrae
Crouch, Stanley
Cuba
Cultural adaptation
Cultural icon, MichaelJordan as
Cultural pluralism
Cultural Studies
journal
Culture, black
convergence of rhetorical universes
film criticism
Tupac Shakur as symbol of
white musicians’ appropriation of
See also
Film; Hip-hop
Curry, George
D’Angelo
Daniels, David
Darden, Christopher
Dash, Julie
David, Hal
Davis, Angela
Davis, Mike
Davis, Miles
Death
depressingly large numbers of black men
firearms’ contribution to
transcending
See also
Homicide
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
(Goldman)
Declaration of Independence
Dee, Big Tray
Deification of Accidence
Demme, Jonathan
Detroit, Michigan
symbols of home
women vocalists
Dialectical Society
Dickerson, Ernest
Dill, Augustus
DiMaggio, Joe
Dinkins, David
Diop, Cheikh Anta
Disco culture
Dissent
magazine
The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society
(Schlesinger)
Divorce: grim statistics for black women
Dixieland music
DJ Jazzy Jeff
DJ Kool Herc
Dogg, Snoop Doggy
Dole, Bob
Domestic violence
Domination
many faces of white domination
white-black domination
whiteness as
Dorsey, Thomas A.
Do the Right Thing
(1989)
Douglas, Ann
Douglass, Frederick
Douglass, Mary
Dr. Dre
Drug trafficking
Drumming
Du Bois, W.E.B.
as face of American identity
criticism of
grim prophecy of
politics of nostalgia
psychic wages of whiteness
racial discourse
racism in academia
schism with Washington
spurning jazz
Duke, George
Dunbar, Paul Laurence
Dyson, Brenda
Dyson, Mike
Dyson, Terrie
Dyson-Bey, Everett
Earning gap
Easy Rider
(1969)
Ebert, Roger
Ebony
magazine
Economies of whiteness
Ecstasy, religious
Edifying deception
Education
affirmative action and university admissions
as criterion for black women choosing black men
author’s education and intellectual development
author’s high standards in literature and thinking
low levels of achievement of black men
Martin Luther King, Jr.
racism on college campuses
the power of knowledge
versus prison for black men
Egyptian culture
Einstein, Albert
“Elegy” (Gray
Eliot, T.S.
Ellington, Duke
Ellis, Aunjanue
Ellison, Ralph
black masculinity
modernism and
multicultural applicability of his work
on OJ. Simpson
on whiteness
Emancipation through music
Emerge magazine
Emerging culture theory
The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches by Malcolm X
(Karim, ed.)
Erudition
Eventful versus event-making persons
Family
Boyz N the
Hood
cultural adaptation during urban migration
dependence on man’s fate
Everett Dyson-Bey’s imprisonment
Moynihan’s study
Family values
Fantasy, sexual
Farley, Jonathan
Farrakhan, Louis
Fascism
Fatherhood:
Boyz Nthe Hood
Feminism
Film and film criticism
Boyz N the Hood
gangster films
hip-hop culture
Malcolm X
O.J. Simpson’s appearance in
purpose of film criticism
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing
Firearms
First Amendment
Fish, Stanley
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Florio-Bunten, Francine
Foreman, George
Foucault, Michel
Founding Fathers
Franklin, Aretha
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, C.L.
Frazier, E. Franklin
Freedom
(Patterson)
The Fresh Prince
Fuhrman, Mark
Funk music
Gammage, Jonny
Gandhi, Mohandas (Mahatma)
Gangs
Gangsta rap
Gangster films
Garrow, David
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.
Gay and lesbian issues.
See
Homosexuality
Gaye, Marvin
Gender relations
Boyz N the Hood
Malcolm X
sexism in blues
sexism in rap
See also
Women
Generation gaps
Genovese, Eugene
G-funk
Ghettocentricity
Ghetto life
black identity and the black home
Boyz N the Hood
shaping the lives of black males
Straight Out of Brooklyn
Giddins, Gary
Gifford, Kathie Lee
Gilroy, Paul
Ginsburg, Ruth Bader
Giovanni’s Room
(Baldwin)
Giroux, Henry
Gitlin, Todd
Goldman, Peter
Goodman, Benny
Gore, Tipper
Gospel music