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African American Studies Commons™

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American Popular Culture

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Selected Works

2012

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in African American Studies

Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, And Postmodern Popular Audiences, John K. Young Nov 2012

Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, And Postmodern Popular Audiences, John K. Young

John K. Young

In this essay the author examines the "Oprah Effect" on the career of Toni Morrison, who after three appearances on "Oprah's Book Club" has become the most dramatic example of postmodernism's merger between Morrison's canonical status and Winfrey's commercial power has superseded the publishing industry's field of normative whiteness, enabling Morrison to reach a broad, popular audience while being marketed as artistically important.

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Social Justice In Turbulent Times: Critical Race Theory And Occupy Wall Street, Nick J. Sciullo Dec 2011

Social Justice In Turbulent Times: Critical Race Theory And Occupy Wall Street, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

In this brief article, I tackle several issues that are critically important to progressive move(ment)s in the law and in society as a whole. I am convinced that the progressive community can make great strides in enriching the law and people’s experience with it through continued articulation and combined sense of theory and practice. We need to move beyond litigation and engage our critical consciousness to embrace activism on all fronts. This is why I locate a positive politics of struggle in the Occupy Movements that I believe progressives ought to embrace . We must simultaneously come to grips with …

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Nostalgia For The Liberal Hour: Talkin' 'Bout The Horizons Of Norman Jewison's Generation, Daniel Mcneil Dec 2011

Nostalgia For The Liberal Hour: Talkin' 'Bout The Horizons Of Norman Jewison's Generation, Daniel Mcneil

Daniel McNeil

Throughout his career as a filmmaker Norman Jewison has confronted stereotypes that depict white liberals as hypocritical and insincere do-gooders. He has also seized and contested the position of victim against radicals on the left and right. This paper outlines some of the commonalities between the Canadian filmmaker and Robin Winks and Michael Banton, two prominent academics in the United States and the United Kingdom who also opposed the "unacceptable face of capitalism" and the “overly politicized” scholarship of radical intellectuals. My conclusion provides a counterpoint to the liberal humanism of Jewison, Winks and Banton by turning to the new …

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Soft Rock, Vincent L. Stephens Dec 2011

Soft Rock, Vincent L. Stephens

Vincent L Stephens

Soft rock refers to melodic vocal music with romantic themes and lush production typically associated with middle-aged taste cultures. I define the genre's place in the history of radio broadcasting, controversies over its artistic merit and its eclectic aesthetic.

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