Artists, Performers, and Black Masculinity in the Haitian Diaspora

Jana Evans Braziel (Author)

9780253219787

Paperback / softback, published 27 June 2008

312 pages, 39 b&w photos
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.7 cm, 0.49 kg

"Energetic, well—argued, and persuasive."—Marjorie Salvodon, Suffolk University

Jana Evans Braziel examines how Haitian diaspora writers, performance artists, and musicians address black masculinity through the Haitian Creole concept of gwo nègs, or "big men." She focuses on six artists and their work: writer Dany Laferrière, director Raoul Peck, rap artist Wyclef Jean, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, drag queen performer and poet Assotto Saint, and queer drag king performer Dréd (a.k.a. Mildréd Gerestant). For Braziel, these individuals confront the gendered, sexualized, and racialized boundaries of America's diaspora communities and openly resist "domestic" imperialism that targets immigrants, minorities, women, gays, and queers. This is a groundbreaking study at the intersections of gender and sexuality with race, ethnicity, nationality, and diaspora.

Contents
Introduction: Haiti's Transnational Politics of "Big Man-ism"
Part 1. Straight, Queer, and Street
1. Trans-American Constructions of Black Heteromasculinity: Dany Laferrière, le Nègre, and the Late-Capitalist American Racial Machine-désirante
2. From Fort Dimanche to Brooklyn: Transnational Regimes of Violence, Duvalierism, and Failed Heteromasculinity in Raoul Peck's Haitian Corner
Part 2. Queer Fist
3. "Honey, Honey, Miss Thing": Assotto Saint's Drag Queen Blues—Queening the Homeland, Queer-Fisting the Dyaspora
4. Drag-Kinging the Dyaspora: Dréd Performing Black (Female) Masculinities in Haiti's Tenth Department
Part 3. Rapping B(l)ack
5. (Rara) Rap Haiti! Wyclef Jean's Chante pwen, Embattled Black Masculinity, and Diasporic Remix as Political Protest
6. Trans-American Art on the Streets: Jean-Michel Basquiat's Black Canvas Bodies and Urban Vodou-Art in Manhattan
Conclusion: Presidential Politics, Haiti's Gwo Nègs, and Diasporic Cultural Production as Transnational Political Protest
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index