The Fact of Blackness: Frantz Fanon and Visual Representation - Softcover

Read, Alan (Edited By)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1900300028 ISBN 13: 9781900300025

Publisher: Institute of Contemporary Arts: Institute of International Visual Arts; Bay Pres, 1996

Synopsis

Cultural Studies. African American Studies. Visual Arts. THE FACT OF BLACKNESS: FRANTZ FANON AND VISUAL REPRESENTATION is a collection of essays that create a far-reaching and original dialogue between cultural theory and visual practice. The rich insights which emerge from this collection explain why Frantz Fanon's seminal texts of the 1950s and 60s, Black Skin White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth, have re-emerged at the forefront of postcolonial studies. Ranging between the contemporary politics of location, everyday traumas of social inequality, and the structures and technologies of representation, these dialogues re-affirm the contention of Fanon's writings: that narrative, the media, image and symbol lie at the very heart of the practice of politics and social knowledge. Includes essays by Homi K. Bhabha, Stuart Hill, bell hooks, Kobena Mercer, Françoise Vergès, Lola Young, and many others.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Creating a far-reaching and original dialogue between cultural theory and visual practice, the rich insights which emerge from this collection explain why Frantz Fanon's seminal texts of the 1950s and 60s, Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth, have re-emerged at the forefront of postcolonial studies. Ranging between the contemporary politics of location, everyday traumas of social inequality, and the structures and technologies of representation, these dialogues re-affirm the contention of Fanon's writings: that narrative, the media, image and symbol lie at the very heart of the practice of politics and social knowledge. "Frantz Fanon changed the historical face of political theory by making it real. This collection assembles an international array of our generation's most important intellectuals, cultural critics and artists in an invaluable dialogue about Fanon's legacy. Any intellectual worth his or her mental salt owes Fanon and his heirs in this anthology a great deal." - Thelma Golden, Whitney Museum of American Art "The rediscovery of Frantz Fanon comes at a point where the questions he raised and the problems he represented have moved again to the centre of Western intellectual life. In this volume the role of Fanon for and in the visual arts is explored with great subtlety and intuition. From Homi K Bhabha and bell hooks to Renee Green, Lyle Ashton Harris and Ntozake Shange, theorists and artists are present. A book of great importance to all those interested in the arts at the new fin de siecle." - Sander L Gilman, University of Chicago "Steering a novel course between the desire to affirm and the obligation to be creatively critical, this ambitious collection adds up to a powerful intervention in the burgeoning field of 'Fanon Studies,' offering some rich speculations about the nature of Fanon's intellectual legacy." - Paul Gilroy, Yale University

About the Author:

Alan Read is Director of Talks at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. From 1983 to 1991 he was Director of Rotherhithe Theatre Workshop and is author of Theatre and Everyday Life: An Ethics of Performance.

About this edition

• Publisher: Institute of Contemporary Arts: Institute of International Visual Arts; Bay Pres
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1900300028
• ISBN 13: 9781900300025
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 211