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Full-Text Articles in African American Studies

Black And Silver Screens: Afropessimism And Filmic Appropriation In Contemporary Video Art, Madeleine A. Seidel May 2022

Black And Silver Screens: Afropessimism And Filmic Appropriation In Contemporary Video Art, Madeleine A. Seidel

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the video works of artists Ulysses Jenkins, Ina Archer, and Garrett Bradley and their appropriation of images of Black actors in Classic Hollywood films through the theoretical framework of afropessimism.


“After-Ozymandias”: The Colonization Of Symbols And The American Monument, H. R. Membreno-Canales May 2018

“After-Ozymandias”: The Colonization Of Symbols And The American Monument, H. R. Membreno-Canales

Theses and Dissertations

After-Ozymandias examines the visual rhetoric of American patriotism through its many symbols, including flags and monuments. My thesis project consists of photographs of empty plinths, objects, products and archival materials. Countless relics remain today memorializing leaders and empires that inevitably declined, from antiquity to modern times. Looking back at distant history feels like a luxury, though: the question for our time in America is whether we have the strength of mind as a society to scrutinize our history, warts and all.


Better Than Before, Makia Harper Jan 2018

Better Than Before, Makia Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Better than Before is an experiential art installation that profiles the life of James Isreal, a Vietnam vet who shares a spiritual journey that is filled with self-discovery, introspection, and hope in the midst of war and abhorrent racism. His poignant retrospective follows his struggle to find peace in the midst of trauma and disease, providing life lessons that transcend the pangs of adversity and the unknown.


Black Feminist Discourse Analysis Of Portrayals Of Gender Violence Against Black Women: A Social Work Dissertation, Avina Ross Jan 2016

Black Feminist Discourse Analysis Of Portrayals Of Gender Violence Against Black Women: A Social Work Dissertation, Avina Ross

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored media discourse of gender violence against Black women in Black contemporary films. Four Tyler Perry films were examined using a novel, qualitative and analytical framework: Black Feminist Discourse Analysis. Discourses that were studied include, but were not limited to: portrayals of gender violence and victims, character dispositions and interactions, stereotypes, relationship dynamics as well as portrayals of race, gender, sexuality and religion. The use of new and existing controlling images based on systems of race, gender, sexuality and religion were revealed in a transitional and systemic model. Common themes across the films are provided. This research closes …


Be A Man If You Can: Examining Pre-Migration And Post-Watts Revolt Identities Of Black Working-Class Men In The Films Of Charles Burnett, 1969-1990, Donte L. Mcfadden Aug 2013

Be A Man If You Can: Examining Pre-Migration And Post-Watts Revolt Identities Of Black Working-Class Men In The Films Of Charles Burnett, 1969-1990, Donte L. Mcfadden

Theses and Dissertations

The films of Charles Burnett from 1969 through 1990 focus on the presentation of black working-class men in South Los Angeles as the decline of industrial jobs alters the socioeconomic landscape. Two periods that are important to understand the historical reference of Burnett's films are the Second Great Migration, in which African Americans evacuate the oppressive climate of Jim Crow to live in Los Angeles during World War II, and the Watts Revolt, a week in August in which residents of the Watts region revolted against law enforcement and business owners in response to the treatment of two African American …