The Twenty-First Century African American Novel and the Critique of Whiteness in Everyday Life The Twenty-First Century African American Novel and the Critique of Whiteness in Everyday Life Blackness as Strategy for Social Change E. Lâle Demirtürk LEXINGTONBOOKS Lanham•Boulder•NewYork•London PublishedbyLexingtonBooks AnimprintofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 www.rowman.com UnitA,WhitacreMews,26-34StannaryStreet,LondonSE114AB Copyright©2016byLexingtonBooks FromTHESACREDPLACE:ANOVEL©2007byDanielBlack.ReprintedbypermissionofSt. Martin’sPress,LLC.AllRightsReserved. ExcerptfromAKILLINGINTHISTOWNbyOlympiaVernon.Copyright©2006byOlympia Vernon.UsedbypermissionofGrove/Atlantic,Inc.,NewYork.Anythirdpartyuseofthis material,outsideofthispublication,isprohibited. FromGatheringofWatersbyBerniceL.McFadden.Copyright©2012byBerniceL. McFadden.ReprintedbypermissionofAkashicBooks,NewYork, www.akashicbooks.com. FromTheRightMistake:TheFurtherPhilosophicalInvestigationsofSocratesFortlowby WalterMosley,copyright©2008.ReprintedbypermissionofBasicBooks,amemberof ThePerseusBooksGroup,WalterMosleyandtheWatkins/LoomisAgency. ReprintedwiththepermissionofAtria,adivisionofSimon&Schuster,Inc.fromTHEM:A NovelbyNathanMcCall.Copyright©2007byNathanMcCall.Allrightsreserved. Excerpt(s)fromAFTER:ANOVELbyMaritaGolden,copyright©2006byMaritaGolden. UsedbypermissionofDoubleday,animprintoftheKnopfDoubledayPublishingGroup,a divisionofPenguinRandomHouseLLC,andCarolMannAgency.Allrightsreserved. FromTheManinMyBasementbyWalterMosley.Copyright©2004byWalterMosley. ReprintedbypermissionofLittle,BrownandCompany,NewYorkandSerpent’sTail, London. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems, withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote passagesinareview. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataAvailable ISBN9781498534826(cloth:alk.paper) ISBN9781498534833(electronic) TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Thisbookisdedicatedtothoseauthorsandscholars whosebeautifulspiritisneverbrokentomakea transformativechangeinthelivesofothers Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction:TheTwenty-FirstCenturyandtheInventionof“Post- Racial(ized)”Blackness:DiscrepantEngagementsinthe AfricanAmerican“Neo-Urban”Novel xiii 1 TheContemporaryAfricanAmericanNovelasStrategic InterventioninPost–9/11:Re-InscriptionsofEmmettTillby OlympiaVernon,DanielBlack,andBerniceL.McFadden 1 2 The“PoliticsofSmallThings”asTransformativeChange: Living“ThoughtinAction”inWalterMosley’sTheRightMistake 49 3 HybridSpatialitiesin“Gentrified”DiscursiveTerrain:Undoing theWallsofWhitelyModesofBeinginNathanMcCall’sThem 103 4 NavigatingInteriorityintheIntersticesof“Black(Police)Man” asResistance:TransformativePoliticsofMourninginMarita Golden’sAfter 147 5 (Dis)ArticulationsofRacialScriptsintheBlackPerformative: SavageJuncturesof(Neo)ColonialWhitenessinWalter Mosley’sTheManinMyBasement 181 Afterword:TransgressivePerformativityofBlacknessasBlueprint forChange:DeconstructingtheEverydayWhitenessof Postraciality 215 Bibliography 225 Index 253 AbouttheAuthor 277 vii Acknowledgments Abook-lengthprojectofthissizewouldnotbepossiblewithouttheencour- agement from people whose assistance in completion of this book took multiple forms. Even though the writing of this book has often meant a solitary affair, it has frequently involved not only establishing a symbiotic togethernesswiththecharactersintheirfictiveworlds,butalsodevelopinga network of building bridges and solidarity in the social world with other scholars, writers, and activists who inspired my thoughts. The Twenty-First Century African American Novel and the Critique of Whiteness in Everyday Life:BlacknessasStrategyforSocialChange wouldnothavebeenpossible withouttheunconditionalsupportandhelpofmanypeople. ItiswithheartfeltandboundlessgratitudeIthankmyfamily,colleagues, friends, and allies who shared the process of writing with me across the globe. This book is deeply shaped by George Yancy, W. Lawrence Hogue, and Jerry Ward who have exerted profound influence on my thinking. George Yancy, in particular, was a generous scholar and colleague, whose work continues to inspire me. During the early stages of developing the book he openedmetonewwaysofthinkingthatprofoundlyinfluencedmyintellectu- aljourney.IoweadebtofgratitudetoW.LawrenceHoguewhoseownwork on African American novels has been influential and pivotal to my thinking abouthowtheAfricanAmericannovelistsinthetwenty-firstcenturyengage anti-white supremacist discourses on black subjectivity and agency. Jerry Ward’s ideas and suggestions served as a corrective lens for me, while he kept me in the loop about the excitement of celebrating the recently pub- lished literary works without forgetting what they owed to the African Americanhistorical,cultural,andliteraryheritage. ix