The Michael Eric Dyson Reader

Contents......Page 10
Foreword......Page 14
Preface......Page 18
Introduction: Why I Am an Intellectual......Page 20
I: DYSONOGRAPHY......Page 30
1 Not from Some Zeus\'s Head: My Intellectual Development......Page 32
2 Letter to My Brother, Everett, in Prison......Page 48
3 This I Believe......Page 61
II: THEORIES OF RACE......Page 64
4 The Liberal Theory of Race......Page 66
5 When You\'re a Credit to Your Race, the Bill Will Come Due: O.J. Simpson and Our Trial by Fire......Page 75
III: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION......Page 96
6 Debating Affirmative Action......Page 98
7 A Reprieve for Affirmative Action......Page 115
IV: MULTICULTURALISM......Page 118
8 Leonard Jeffries and the Struggle for the Black Mind......Page 120
9 Shakespeare and Smokey Robinson: Revisiting the Culture Wars......Page 125
V: WHITENESS STUDIES......Page 134
10 The Labor of Whiteness, the Whiteness of Labor, and the Perils of Whitewishing......Page 136
11 Giving Whiteness a Black Eye......Page 142
VI: GENDER VIEWS......Page 164
12 The Plight of Black Men......Page 166
13 Another Saturday Night, or Have All the Brothers Gone to White Women?......Page 176
14 In O.J.\'s Shadow: Kobe Bryant\'s Predicament......Page 196
VII: AFRO-BAPTIST RADICALISM AND RHETORIC......Page 200
15 \"God Almighty Has Spoken from Washington, D.C.\": American Society and Christian Faith......Page 202
16 Gardner Taylor: The Poet Laureate of the American Pulpit......Page 221
17 \"Somewhere I Read of the Freedom of Speech\": Constructing a Unique Voice......Page 231
VIII: RELIGION AND SEXUALITY......Page 246
18 When You Divide Body and Soul, Problems Multiply: The Black Church and Sexuality......Page 248
19 Homotextualities: The Bible, Sexual Ethics, and the Theology of Homoeroticism......Page 267
IX: BlOCRITICISM AND BLACK ICONS......Page 288
20 X Marks the Plots: A Critical Reading of Malcolm\'s Readers......Page 290
21 Mixed Blessings: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Lessons of an Ambiguous Heroism......Page 316
22 \"Give Me a Paper and Pen\": Tupac\'s Place in Hip-Hop......Page 335
X: CINEMA NOIR......Page 354
23 Spike Lee\'s Neonationalist Vision......Page 356
24 Between Apocalypse and Redemption: John Singleton\'s Boyz N the Hood......Page 363
25 Ghettocentricity and the New Black Cinema......Page 378
XI: THE SOUL MUSICS OF BLACK FOLK......Page 390
26 The Promise and Perils of Contemporary Gospel Music......Page 392
27 Mariah Carey and \"Authentic\" Black Music......Page 396
28 Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and Me......Page 399
29 The Great Next: Jazz Origins and the Anatomy of Improvisation......Page 405
XII: HIP-HOP CULTURE......Page 428
30 The Culture of Hip-Hop......Page 430
31 Gangsta Rap and American Culture......Page 440
32 We Never Were What We Used to Be: Black Youth, Pop Culture, and the Politics of Nostalgia......Page 447
XIII: THE PREDICAMENT OF POSTMODERNITY......Page 470
33 Michael Jackson\'s Postmodern Spirituality......Page 472
34 Be Like Mike? Michael Jordan and the Pedagogy of Desire......Page 490
35 Is Postmodernism Just Modernism in Drag?......Page 498
XIV: CODA: THE LIFE OF THE MIND......Page 520
36 It\'s Not What You Know, It\'s How You Show It: Black Public Intellectuals......Page 522
Notes......Page 540
Credits......Page 562
B......Page 564
C......Page 565
E......Page 566
H......Page 567
I......Page 568
L......Page 569
M......Page 570
P......Page 571
R......Page 572
S......Page 573
T......Page 574
W......Page 575
Z......Page 576