The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture

African American culture is often considered expressive, dramatic, and even defiant. In The Sovereignty of Quiet, Kevin Quashie explores quiet as a different kind of expressiveness, one which characterizes a person's desires, ambitions, hungers, vulnerabilities, and fears. Quiet is a metaphor for the inner life, and as such, enables a more nuanced understanding of black culture.

The book revisits such iconic moments as Tommie Smith and John Carlos's protest at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and Elizabeth Alexander's reading at the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama. Quashie also examines such landmark texts as Gwendolyn Brooks's Maud Martha, James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, and Toni Morrison's Sula to move beyond the emphasis on resistance, and to suggest that concepts like surrender, dreaming, and waiting can remind us of the wealth of black humanity.

Author: Kevin Quashie
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 07/24/2012
Pages: 204
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9780813553108
ISBN10: 0813553105
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | American | African American & Black
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | African American & Black Studies

About the Author

KEVIN QUASHIE is an associate professor of Afro-American studies at Smith College. He is the author of Black Women, Identity, and Cultural Theory: (Un)Becoming the Subject (Rutgers University Press).