Contemporary Black Masculinity
“Visuality and Black Masculinity in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Romare Bearden’s Photomontages” (Kimberly Lamm)
I really like in the beginning of this article that she tells us exactly what it is this article will be about. She states that “this essay argues the visual art of Romare Bearden and the literary of Ralph Ellison work to remake the ‘canvas” of black masculinity, and what is at stake in this remaking deepens in clarity and complexity when we see and read their work together” (813). What I do not understand is that she also states that “though their work is not often considered simultaneously, and is usually not analyzed in terms of its representations of masculinity . . . “ (813). Why does she choose these to works for this purpose? How are the two works effective in remaking the “canvas of black masculinity or do you even think that they do?
“Reconstructing Black Masculinity” (bell hooks).
I enjoyed this article the most out of all three of the ones that we were assigned to read. In the beginning I felt very sad when the author says that “as adolescents, he (her brother) was forced to become a boy and I was forced to become a girl. In our southern black Baptist patriarchal home, being a boy meant learning to be tough, to mask one’s feelings, to stand one’s ground and fight; being a girl meant learning to obey, to be quiet, to clean, to recognize that you had no ground to stand on. Throughout this article, I had to constantly remind myself that the author was speaking of black masculinity, because so many of the points that she was making could also just apply to any southern Baptist home, white or black. I thought it was very interesting when the author spoke of her brother as if he was dead, but he is not. Why do you think that she chooses to speak of him in this way and how does it help us to understand what black masculinity has come to mean? (I.e. how has he “died” to himself). One thing that I was confused about in this article was whether or not the author was trying to reconstruct black masculinity by writing this or if it is just something that needs to be done? How do you think that we can reconstruct the stigmas we have placed on black males?
“Skin Head Sex Thing: Racial Differences and Homoerotic Imaginary” (Kobena Mercer).
This article also raises the issue of cultural stereotypes of black masculinity. He does so by telling us about his experience he and his friend had upon viewing photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. When Mercer states that in his article he will “explore the experience of aesthetic ambivalence in visual representations of the black male nude” (169), what ambivalence is he speaking of? In his article Mercer addresses the nature of ambivalence in Mapplethorpe’s photographs. Do you think that when Mapplethorpe fetishizes the black men in his pictures that he is actually deconstructing the notions of the cultural stereotypes that we have placed on black males? Or do you think that he is reinforcing them?
in the case of bearden and ellison, black masculinity is seen as a point of construction and transition. it is exactly the mutability of the expectations of masculinity that make the works of these two artists so interesting. much like the "brotherhood" in invisible man, bell hooks also addresses the notion of a fixed position against which black masculinity is judged against, but hooks goes on the explain that this position is not a natural position for black men. the idea of black masculinity has been imposed on black men in america. when maplethorpe photographs black men the images reinforce the phallocentric idea of black masculinity that hooks sees as problematic. in many of maplethorpe's photographs the representation of black males is reduced to just the penis. how does a man build a healthy self-image when the only thing of value he possesses is a larger than average cock? can he be a sexualized object with agency? this was a very interesting trio of articles.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that struck me as a thread that ran through all three articles was the concept of the visible vs. the invisible in the formation of the black male identity in the white (male) dominated western culture of the U.S.A.. In Lamm’s article discovering correlations between Ellison’s novel The Invisible Man and the photomontages of Bearden, she examines the complex theme the visible vs. the invisible as it relates to the plot and character development of Invisible Man and Todd Clifton and each of their relationships with the Brotherhood and society at large. In her examination of Mapplethorp’s Black Book, Mercer states, “[Mapplethorp’s] work begins to reveal the political unconscious of white ethnicity. It lays bare the constitutive ambivalence that structures whiteness as a cultural identity whose hegemony lies, as Richard Dyer suggests, precisely in its “invisibility.”” hooks article examines the historical context and evolution of the development of the black male identity. She is critical of how this process has involved the black male denying both: the constructedness of the formation of the white male identity by white males and an empowered identity of the black female. It is this willingness to see and be seen that I found to be the common theme throughout the articles.
ReplyDeleteI had the same question about the Bell Hooks reading. It seems to me that there is a lot of 'preaching' going on but not much problem solving. But further delving into the reading led me to Bruce’s point that this isn’t the natural station for black males, and that ‘they’ are still trying to figure things out for themselves. I also found it very interesting how Hooks sort of insinuated that her brother was deceased. This, to me, probably stems from the lack of self realization. Her brother was unable to act how he felt and therefore was dead. And to the stigma question, I’m not sure if that will ever be successfully done. The notions that have been placed on black males have been there for so long, and the fact that originally they weren’t allowed to rebut them due to slavery. And once something had been literally, or figuratively beaten into you and your culture for so long it becomes the accepted mindset.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure Mapplethorpe fetishized the nude black male. However, if a viewer does choose to strip the photograph down to face value, the obvious cultural stereotype is clear. I am very curious to hear what everyone else thought about these articles I found them very interesting.
I have had a hard time reconciling the difference between masculinity and black masculinity.I am not sure I understand the difference. I can certainly see the fetishizing of the black male nude in Maplethorpe's work. I think a read of sex 'slaves' would be something interesting to discuss.
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