Details

Subject(s)

• American literature—African American authors—History and criticism [Browse]
• Nostalgia in literature [Browse]
• Happiness in literature [Browse]

Series

• New Black studies series [More in this series]
• The new Black studies series

Summary note

"As early as the eighteenth century, white Americans and Europeans believed that people of African descent could not experience nostalgia. As a result, black lives have been predominately narrated through historical scenes of slavery and oppression. This phenomenon created a missing archive of romantic historical memories. Badia Ahad-Legardy mines literature, visual culture, performance, and culinary arts to form an archive of black historical joy for use by the African-descended. Her analysis reveals how contemporary black artists find more than trauma and subjugation within the historical past. Drawing on contemporary African American culture and recent psychological studies, she reveals nostalgia's capacity to produce positive emotions. Afro-nostalgia emerges as an expression of black romantic recollection that creates and inspires good feelings even within our darkest moments. Original and provocative, Afro-Nostalgia offers black historical pleasure as a remedy to contend with the disillusionment of the present and the traumas of the past." -- Provided by publisher.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-196) and index.

Contents

• Introduction. Ten thousand recollections: Afro-nostalgia and contemporary Black aesthetics
• (Nostalgic) retribution: the power of the petty in contemporary narratives of slavery
• (Nostalgic) restoration: Utopian pasts and political futures in the music of Black Lives Matter
• (Nostalgic) regeneration: absent archives and historical pleasures in contemporary Black visual culture
• (Nostalgic) reclamation: recipes for radicalism and the politics of soul(food)
• Postscript: a future for Black nostalgia.

Show 3 more Contents items

ISBN

• 0252085663
• 9780252085666 ((paperback))
• 9780252043666 ((hardcover))
• 0252043669

OCLC

1196242492

Statement on language in description

Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...