Not your mother's mammy : the black domestic worker in transatlantic women's media

Resource Information

The work Not your mother's mammy : the black domestic worker in transatlantic women's media represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in DC Public Library System. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Not your mother's mammy : the black domestic worker in transatlantic women's media

Title remainder

the black domestic worker in transatlantic women's media

Statement of responsibility

Tracey L. Walters

Creator

• Walters, Tracey Lorraine

Author

• Walters, Tracey Lorraine

Subject

• American literature -- African American authors | History and criticism
• Arts, Black
• African American women household employees in art
• Women household employees, Black, in art
• Women household employees, Black, in literature
• English literature -- Black authors | History and criticism
• African American women household employees in literature

Language

eng

Summary

"Not Your Mother's Mammy examines how black artists of the African diaspora, many of them former domestics, reconstruct the black female subjectivities of domestics in fiction, film, and visual and performance art. In doing so, they undermine one-dimensional images of black domestics as victims lacking voice and agency and prove domestic workers are more than the aprons they wear. An analysis of selected media by Alice Childress, Nandi Keyi, Victoria Brown, Kara Walker, Mikalene Thomas, Rene Cox, Lynn Nottage, and others provides examples of generations of domestics who challenged their performative roles of subservience by engaging in subversive actions contradicting the image of the deferential black maid. The artists illustrate that through verbal confrontation, mobilization, passive resistance, and performance, black domestics find their voices, exercise their power, and maintain their dignity in the face of humiliation. Not Your Mother's Mammy brings to life stories of domestics often neglected in academic studies, such as the complexity of interracial homoerotic relationships between workers and employers, or the mental health challenges of domestics that lead to depression and suicide. In line with international movements like #MeToo and #timesup, the women in these stories demand to be heard"--

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

LBSOR/DLC

Dewey number

704.9/496404608996073

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

LC call number

NX652.A37

LC item number

W35 2021

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography