Description
Book SynopsisIn Jezebel Unhinged Tamura Lomax traces the use of the jezebel trope in the black church and in black popular culture, showing how it is pivotal to reinforcing men''s cultural and institutional power to discipline and define black girlhood and womanhood. Drawing on writing by medieval thinkers and travelers, Enlightenment theories of race, the commodification of women''s bodies under slavery, and the work of Tyler Perry and Bishop T. D. Jakes, Lomax shows how black women are written into religious and cultural history as sites of sexual deviation. She identifies a contemporary black church culture where figures such as Jakes use the jezebel stereotype to suggest a divine approval of the “lady” while condemning girls and women seen as 'hos.' The stereotype preserves gender hierarchy, black patriarchy, and heteronormativity in black communities, cultures, and institutions. In response, black women and girls resist, appropriate, and play with the stereotype''s mean
Trade Review
"An amazing pick for book clubs, reading discussion groups, or faith study groups, Jezebel Unhinged offers a fresh, exciting perspective on blackness, black female bodies, African American culture, and contemporary Christian teachings." -- Claire Foster * Foreword Reviews *
"A book for black women who want freedom." -- Mariam Williams * Women's Review of Books *
"Jezebel Unhinged is an insightful text that not only bridges the gap between Black feminist studies, Black pop culture studies, and womanist thought in religion, but also brings fresh and innovative analyses to longstanding discourses about black womanhood." -- Ahmad Greene-Hayes * Reading Religion *
"Lomax has written a thoughtful, passionate piece, one deeply concerned about the well-being of black women and girls and, by extension, the well-being of a larger social fabric." -- Nan Kathy Lin * Studies in Religion *
“Jezebel Unhinged is an exciting and provocative scholarly work. … For those interested in a thorough and systematic study of black women and girls and their relationship with the Black Church and black popular culture, this book is one that must be read.” -- Angela M. Nelson * Asian Journal of Social Science *
“A passionate, closely argued, energetically written and illuminating text….” -- John Clammer * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
“The arrow of Dr. Lomax’s words bullseyed into my soul…. Lomax brilliantly argues for critical black feminist religious engagement with how Black womanhood and girlhood are constructed and disseminated in connection with Black religion and Black popular culture. She focuses on the Black Church as a physical and psychic site of particular interest because it holds messy grey spaces outside of the social binaries we’ve been conditioned to accept.” -- B. J. McDaniel * The Lion and the Unicorn *
Table of Contents
Prolegomenon. "Hoeism or Whatever": Black Girls and the Sable Letter "B" vii
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction. "A Thousand Details, Anecdotes, Stories": Mining the Discourse on Black Womanhood 1
1. Black Venus and Jezebel Sluts: Writing Race, Sex, and Gender in Religion and Culture 13
2. "These Hos Ain't Loyal": White Perversions, Black Possessions 34
3. Theologizing Jezebel: Womanist Central Criticism, a Divine Intervention 59
4. "Changing the Letter": Toward a Black Feminist Study of Religion 82
5. The Black Church, the Black Lady, and Jezebel: The Cultural Production of Feminine-ism 108
6. Whose "Woman" Is This?: Reading Bishop T. D. Jakes's Woman, Thou Art Loosed! 130
7. Tyler Perry's New Revival: Black Sexual Politics, Black Popular Religion, and an American Icon 169
Epilogue. Dangerous Machinations: Black Feminists Taught Us 201
Notes 211
Bibliography 243
Index 251
