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Talkin’ Bout a Revolution: Afro-Politico Womanism and the Ideological Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980

Eaton, Kalenda C.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1093540674

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, English.
This project examines how the ideological transformation of the Black community during the Black Power movement is represented in fiction written by Black female novelists during the post-Civil Rights period. I argue that by recognizing and often challenging prevailing paradigms within Black nationalist rhetoric, female activists/writers such as Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, and Paule Marshall worked within and wrote about the black community in ways that would ensure a focus on continued progressive action after the official end to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Via fictional representations of Black female activists struggling to save the Black community, the authors question the usefulness of Black rhetorical warfare that serves as imaginary distractions to current issues and problems that face the Black community at the dawn of a new era. The theoretical framework I employ for this project is what I call, Afro-Politico Womanism. Afro-Politico Womanism is a theory based on a holistic method of understanding community building among the Black masses who are left behind, after a Black middle-class collective moves into the folds of mainstream American society. Afro-Politico Womanism is supported by the logic, endurance, passion, and attitudes of Black women. This agenda is committed to literary representations of Black female political activism, and often exists in 20th century literature written by black women, where the protagonist(s) have a strong desire to disrupt the infrastructure. In the context of this project, literary representations of Black female political activism includes a characters struggle, for justice within the Black community, and an understanding of how gender relationships can be used to heal relationships. As a method of theorizing the socio-political milieu during the time specified I incorporate readings of cognitive liberation theory; indigenous organizational structures, and gender politics as variables which effectively lead to the mass movement and political mobilization of the Black underclass. This project examines how the ideological transformation of the Black community during the Black Power movement is represented in fiction written by Black female novelists during the post-Civil Rights period. I argue that by recognizing and often challenging prevailing paradigms within Black nationalist rhetoric, female activists/writers such as Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, and Paule Marshall worked within and wrote about the black community in ways that would ensure a focus on continued progressive action after the official end to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Via fictional representations of Black female activists struggling to save the Black community, the authors question the usefulness of Black rhetorical warfare that serves as imaginary distractions to current issues and problems that face the Black community at the dawn of a new era. The theoretical framework I employ for this project is what I call, Afro-Politico Womanism. Afro-Politico Womanism is a theory based on a holistic method of understanding community building among the Black masses who are left behind, after a Black middle-class collective moves into the folds of mainstream American society. Afro-Politico Womanism is supported by the logic, endurance, passion, and attitudes of Black women. This agenda is committed to literary representations of Black female political activism, and often exists in 20th century literature written by black women, where the protagonist(s) have a strong desire to disrupt the infrastructure. In the context of this project, literary representations of Black female political activism includes a characters struggle, for justice within the Black community, and an understanding of how gender relationships can be used to heal relationships. As a method of theorizing the socio-political milieu during the time specified I incorporate readings of cognitive liberation theory; indigenous organizational structures, and gender politics as variables which effectively lead to the mass movement and political mobilization of the Black underclass.
Valerie Lee (Advisor)
185 p.
African American Literature; Womanism; Black Women's Literature

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Eaton, K. C. (2004). Talkin’ Bout a Revolution: Afro-Politico Womanism and the Ideological Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1093540674

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Eaton, Kalenda. Talkin’ Bout a Revolution: Afro-Politico Womanism and the Ideological Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980. 2004. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1093540674.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Eaton, Kalenda. "Talkin’ Bout a Revolution: Afro-Politico Womanism and the Ideological Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1093540674

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1093540674
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© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.