The Performative Sustainability of Race: Reflections on Black Culture and the Politics of Identity: 19 (Black Studies and Critical Thinking) - Hardcover

"`The Performative Sustainability of Race' represents a watershed moment in race and performance studies [...] Alexander never lets the reader (or himself) off the hook, always reminding us of the hermeneutical trap that race poses. Rather than leave us in a place of paralysis, however, this book suggests that it is the process of performance itself where the possibility of transformation and hope lie." (E. Patrick Johnson, Carlos Montezuma Professor, Department of Performance Studies and African American Studies, Northwestern University; Author of `Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity') "In this brilliant, boldly confrontative, and paradigm-shifting book Bryant Keith Alexander treats us to a very personal, exhilarating, and yet fiercely intellectual examination of the complexities of power, performance, and the politics of racial identity [...]. You will want to read this book again and again." (Ronald L. Jackson II, Dean, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, Professor, Department of Communication, University of Cincinnati; Author of `Communicating Marginalized Masculinities' and editor of `Critical Studies in Media Communication') "This is a critical autoethnography at its best, a persuasive demonstration in concrete personal detail and astute textual and critical analysis of how we all are held down and held back by the structures and strains of race relations and racism." (Carolyn Ellis, Professor of communication, University of South Florida; Author of `Revision: Autoethnographic Reflections on Life and Word') "`The Performative Sustainability of Race' represents a watershed moment in race and performance studies [...] Alexander never lets the reader (or himself) off the hook, always reminding us of the hermeneutical trap that race poses. Rather than leave us in a place of paralysis, however, this book suggests that it is the process of performance itself where the possibility of transformation and hope lie." (E. Patrick Johnson, Carlos Montezuma Professor, Department of Performance Studies and African American Studies, Northwestern University; Author of `Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity') "In this brilliant, boldly confrontative, and paradigm-shifting book Bryant Keith Alexander treats us to a very personal, exhilarating, and yet fiercely intellectual examination of the complexities of power, performance, and the politics of racial identity [...]. You will want to read this book again and again." (Ronald L. Jackson II, Dean, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, Professor, Department of Communication, University of Cincinnati; Author of `Communicating Marginalized Masculinities' and editor of `Critical Studies in Media Communication') "This is a critical autoethnography at its best, a persuasive demonstration in concrete personal detail and astute textual and critical analysis of how we all are held down and held back by the structures and strains of race relations and racism." (Carolyn Ellis, Professor of communication, University of South Florida; Author of `Revision: Autoethnographic Reflections on Life and Word')

Following the premise that race and the process of racialization is performative, this book is a critical examination of the performative sustainability of race, particularly blackness, through commentaries on White Studies, art depictions of African American culture in the rural south, educational and pedagogical contexts, dramatic and film representation, and the intersections of race and gender performance. The book examines issues impacting the sustainability of race and race relations through multiple methodological and critical perspectives - most notably framed through performance (performance studies) and autoethnography.