Josephine Baker and Katherine Dunham were the two most acclaimed and commercially successful African American dancers of their era and among the first black women to enjoy international screen careers. Both also produced fascinating memoirs that provided vital insights into their artistic philosophies and choices. However, difficulties in accessing and categorizing their works on the screen and on the page have obscured their contributions to film and literature. Hannah Durkin investigates Baker and Dunham's films and writings to shed new light on their legacies as transatlantic artists and civil rights figures. Their trailblazing dancing and choreography reflected a belief that they could use film to confront racist assumptions while also imagining—within significant confines—new aesthetic possibilities for black women. Their writings, meanwhile, revealed their creative process, engagement with criticism, and the ways each mediated cultural constructions of black women's identities. Durkin pays particular attention to the ways dancing bodies function as ever-changing signifiers and de-stabilizing transmitters of cultural identity. In addition, she offers an overdue appraisal of Baker and Dunham's places in cinematic and literary history.
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Information
Publisher
University of Illinois PressYear
2019Print ISBN
9780252084454
9780252042621
eBook ISBN
9780252051463
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. The Dancer in Translation: Baker's Coauthored Narratives
- 2. The Dancer as Translator: Dunham's Ethnographic Memoirs
- 3. Performing within Primitivism: Baker on the French Silent Screen
- 4. Cinematic Stardom: Baker and the 1930s French Musical Film
- 5. Cinematic Segregation: Dunham in World War II Hollywood
- 6. Navigating Primitivism's Persistent Gaze: Dunham in Postwar European Cinema
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author
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Yes, you can access Josephine Baker and Katherine Dunham by Hannah Durkin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Dance. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.