TY  - BOOK
AU  - Aisha Damali Lockridge
PY  - 2021
CY  - New York, United States of America
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 1528-3887
TI  - Tipping on a Tightrope
T2  - Divas in African American Literature
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1109028
N2  - When Black runway models began throwing phones and VH1’s «Divas Live» riveted viewers, a new paradigm for Black women had fully evolved in the form of the Black Diva. Tracing the trajectory of the Diva figure from the Italian castrati to Ntozake Shange’s Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter suggests a way around staid and fixed stereotypes about Black womanhood. The Black Diva performs her demands as a quintessential act of survival in a hostile and racist world; she is both a product of and a mark against the male gaze, Black and white. Ultimately, Tipping on a Tightrope: Divas in African American Literature uses present popular culture incarnations of the Diva to detail her long relationship with Black American literary culture.
KW  - Black runway models, Black Diva, Italian Castrati, Ntozake Shange, Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter
LA  - English
ER  -