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Jagodzinski_Love is Color Blind.pdf (982.68 KB)

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Love is (Color) Blind: Historical Romance Fiction and Interracial Relationships in the Twenty-First Century

Jagodzinski, Mallory Diane
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2281-0816
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440101084

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
This dissertation analyzes three historical romance novels—Secrets of a Scandalous Heiress by Theresa Romain (2015), The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran (2008) and The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan (2013)—to understand how postracial rhetoric is being contested and confirmed in a genre where the reader is promised an “emotionally just” ending. In historical romance novels, this “emotionally just” ending often involves a re-writing of history where institutional systems (often patriarchy) are made progressive and more hospitable to oppressed groups through the power of romantic love (RWA “About the Romance Genre”). I argue that depictions of interracial relationships in twenty-first century historical romance novels written by American authors for a primarily American audience helps to illustrate both the problem of postracial thinking and the complexities and contradictions of postracial thinking by rewriting both history and historical stereotypes. The inclusion of interracial relationships that seriously analyze issues of racial identity within the course of the narrative helps to trouble the dominance of the postracial narrative for readers of romance, 83% of whom are white according to a survey conducted by The Nielsen Company for the Romance Writers of America (“The Romance Book Buyer” 11).
Jolie Sheffer, PhD (Advisor)
Pamela Regis, PhD (Committee Member)
Sridevi Menon, PhD (Committee Member)
Lisa Hanasono, PhD (Committee Member)
Kara Joyner, PhD (Committee Member)
199 p.
American Studies; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Literature; Womens Studies
romance fiction; romance novels; genre fiction; intersectionality; gender; feminism; race; interracial relationships; postracial; color-blind racism; whiteness; class; neoliberalism; disability; performativity; precarity; cultural studies

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Jagodzinski, M. D. (2015). Love is (Color) Blind: Historical Romance Fiction and Interracial Relationships in the Twenty-First Century [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440101084

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jagodzinski, Mallory. Love is (Color) Blind: Historical Romance Fiction and Interracial Relationships in the Twenty-First Century. 2015. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440101084.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jagodzinski, Mallory. "Love is (Color) Blind: Historical Romance Fiction and Interracial Relationships in the Twenty-First Century." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440101084

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1440101084
6,270
© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.