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Using the master's tools : representations of blackness and the strategies of stereotype

Abstract

Attending to Audre Lorde's speech where she famously said, "For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house," this dissertation argues for the reformation of the master's tools and cites four plays and an oeuvre of visual art that speak to this radical re-envisioning. The playwrights Kia Corthron, Lynn Nottage, and Suzan-Lori Parks, and visual artist Kara Walker utilize the master's tools in order to expose the inadequate craftsmanship in the master's house. Here, the tools used by these women are stereotypes that American culture created in order to oppress African Americans : the historical stereotypes of Sambo, Mammy, Uncle Tom and contemporary stereotypes of the welfare queen and black criminal. As African American artists, these women deliberately deploy stereotypes in their work as a way to defuse their lingering power. These images have haunted America for centuries, and the artists' works surveyed here tap into collective memories that question how these memories may continue to haunt our future. The "dismantling" that occurs in the various artistic works varies in its aim and scope, and in this dissertation I track the particular devices used in conjunction with the artists' works to uncover the intentional and conscious intervention implicit in the plays and visual art. By looking at the work of Walker, Parks, Corthron, and Nottage, I would like to consider the possibilities for alternative narratives and ruptured stereotypes and discuss how stereotypes and representations of blackness can be recalled, reviewed, and re-envisioned

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