Description
Book SynopsisAfrican American culture is often considered expressive, dramatic, and even defiant, and this matrix has dominated our understanding of black communities and texts. This explores how a different kind of expressiveness, from protests to readings to landmark texts, as represented in the idea of quiet could change common conceptions and provide a more nuanced view of black culture.
Trade Review"With fluid and beautiful prose, Quashie’s book not only offers readers another way to think about African American selfhood, but also other ways to approach the very act of reading itself."— Emily Bernard, author of Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance
"Quashie challenges the general assumption that African American commentary is expressed in loud voices as he studies the often-overlooked internal conflicts of 'black culture'. His intertwining of both factual and fictional situations provides a brilliant and intriguiging insight that ultimately suggests an overwhelming gentle message about African American protest and resistance. Recommended."
— Choice
"
The Sovereignty of Quiet is a profound and excellent look at quiet and its relationship with black identity, black culture, and existentialism. With impeccable scholarship, beautiful writing, and powerful arguments, Quashie makes a fabulous contribution to the field. A success!"— Debra Walker King, author of African Americans and the Culture of Pain
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Publicness, Silence, and the Sovereignty of the Interior
2. Not Double Consciousness but the Consciousness of Surrender
3. Maud Martha and the Practice of Paying Attention
4. Quiet, Vulnerability, and Nationalism
5. The Capacities of Waiting, the Expressiveness of Prayer
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Permissions
Notes
Bibliography
Index
