Description
Book SynopsisThe first book of scholarship devoted to the issue of how black women are depicted on reality television,
Real Sister offers an even-handed consideration of the genre. The book's ten contributors - black female scholars from a variety of disciplines - provide a wide range of perspectives, while considering everything from
Basketball Wives to
Say Yes to the Dress.
Trade Review"Every now and then a publication arrives that's right on time, and
Real Sister is the read of the season … Cue the book club debates!" -- #1 in Patrik's Picks * Essence Magazine *
"
Real Sister makes a significant contribution to existing scholarship by establishing links between depictions of black women in television and a longer-running history of representations of black women in literature and popular culture tropes." -- Leigh H. Edwards * author of The Triumph of Reality TV: The Revolution in American Television *
"A frank meditation on the images of black women in television’s most dominant form,
Real Sister exposes the ways in which the ambivalent pleasures derived from reality TV’s obligatory train wrecks implicate black women as both victim and entrepreneur." -- Darnell Hunt * editor of Channeling Blackness *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction The Real Scandal: Portrayals of Black Women in Reality TV
Jervette R. Ward
Chapter 1 Black Women: From Public Arena to Reality TV
Sheena Harris
Chapter 2 Selective Reuptake: Perpetuating Misleading Cultural Identities in the Reality Television World
LaToya Jefferson-James
Chapter 3 Striving to Dress the Part: Examining the Absence of Black Women in Different Iterations of
Say Yes to the Dress Alison D. Ligon
Chapter 4 The Semiotics of Fashion and Urban Success in
The Real Housewives of Atlanta Cynthia Davis
Chapter 5 A Home without Walls, A Family without Boundaries: How Family Participation in Reality Television Impacts Children’s Development
Detris Honora Adelabu
Chapter 6 Where Is Clair Huxtable When You Need Her?: The Desperate Search for Positive Media Images of African American Women in the Age of Reality TV
Monica Flippin-Wynn
Chapter 7 Questions of Quality and Class: Perceptions of Hierarchy in African American Family–Focused Reality TV Shows
Preselfannie E. Whitfield McDaniel
Chapter 8 Contemplating
Basketball Wives: A Critique of Racism, Sexism, and Income-Level Disparity
Sharon Lynette Jones
Chapter 9 Exploiting and Capitalizing on Unique Black Femininity: An Entrepreneurial Perspective
Terry A. Nelson
Chapter 10 Reunion Chapter: A Conversation among Contributors
Jervette R. Ward
Appendix Reality TV Shows That Prominently Feature Black Women
Notes on Contributors
Index
