The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women. This item is unavailable.
Language: English
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing (edition 1), 2021
- Hardcover
- Used

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Item description from seller
With dust jacket. It's a well-cared-for item that has seen limited use. The item may show minor signs of wear. All the text is legible, with all pages included. It may have slight markings and/or highlighting.
Seller Inventory # 1620403536-8-1-29
- Title
- The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women
- Author
- McKinley, Catherine E.
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing (edition 1)
- Publication year
- 2021
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Dust Jacket Included
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1620403536
- ISBN 13
- 9781620403532
- Edition
- 1.
Winner of the African Photobook of the Year Award
A Choice Outstanding Title of the Year
A USA Today "Must-Read for Black History Month"
An NPR "Goats and Soda" Editors' Pick
A BookRiot Favorite Nonfiction Book of the Year
An unprecedented visual history of African women told in striking and subversive historical photographs―featuring an Introduction by Edwidge Danticat and a Foreword by Jacqueline Woodson.
Most of us grew up with images of African women that were purely anthropological―bright displays of exotica where the deeper personhood seemed tucked away. Or they were chronicles of war and poverty―“poverty porn.” But now, curator Catherine E. McKinley draws on her extensive collection of historical and contemporary photos to present a visual history spanning a hundred-year arc (1870–1970) of what is among the earliest photography on the continent. These images tell a different story of African women: how deeply cosmopolitan and modern they are in their style; how they were able to reclaim the tools of the colonial oppression that threatened their selfhood and livelihoods.
Featuring works by celebrated African masters, African studios of local legend, and anonymous artists, The African Lookbook captures the dignity, playfulness, austerity, grandeur, and fantasy-making of African women across centuries. McKinley also features photos by Europeans―most starkly, striking nudes―revealing the relationships between white men and the Black female sitters where, at best, a grave power imbalance lies. It’s a bittersweet truth that when there is exploitation there can also be profound resistance expressed in unexpected ways―even if it’s only in gazing back. These photos tell the story of how the sewing machine and the camera became powerful tools for women’s self-expression, revealing a truly glorious display of everyday beauty.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Edwidge Danticat is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah's Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; and the novel-in-stories, The Dew Breaker. She is the editor of The Butterfly’s Way: Voices from the Haitian Diaspora in the United States and The Beacon Best of 2000: Great Writing by Men and Women of All Colors and Cultures, Haiti Noir and Haiti Noir 2, and Best American Essays 2011. She has written several books for young adults and children―Anacaona, Behind the Mountains, Eight Days, The Last Mapou, Mama's Nightingale, and Untwine―as well as a travel narrative, After the Dance, A Walk Through Carnival in Jacmel. Her memoir, Brother, I’m Dying, was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Award and a 2008 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. She is a 2009 MacArthur Fellow.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.