Exodus Politics: Civil Rights and Leadership in African American Literature and Culture (American Literatures Initiative) - Softcover

Robert J. Patterson (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813935261 ISBN 13: 9780813935263

Publisher: University of Virginia Press, 2013

Synopsis

Using the term "exodus politics" to theorize the valorization of black male leadership in the movement for civil rights, Robert J. Patterson explores the ways in which the political strategies and ideologies of this movement paradoxically undermined the collective enfranchisement of black people. He argues that by narrowly conceptualizing civil rights in only racial terms and relying solely on a male figure, conventional African American leadership, though frequently redemptive, can also erode the very goals of civil rights. The author turns to contemporary African American writers such as Ernest Gaines, Gayl Jones, Alice Walker, and Charles Johnson to show how they challenge the dominant models of civil rights leadership. He draws on a variety of disciplines-including black feminism, civil rights history, cultural studies, and liberation theology-in order to develop a more nuanced formulation of black subjectivity and politics. Patterson's connection of the concept of racial rights to gender and sexual rights allows him to illuminate the literature's promotion of more expansive models. By considering the competing and varied political interests of black communities, these writers reimagine the dominant models in a way that can empower communities to be self-sustaining in the absence of a messianic male leader.

About this title

About the Author

Robert J. Patterson is Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies at Georgetown University, USA.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Virginia Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813935261
• ISBN 13: 9780813935263
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216