Shared Flashcard Set

Details

African American Lit 2
Terms and Concepts
27
English
Undergraduate 1
12/13/2010

Additional English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Afro-futurism; Black Post Modernism; Contemporary period
Definition
1970 - present
Term
Bad Man / Bad Woman
Definition
developed during the post reconstruction of the south. Jim Crowe south. Black men or women who openly and willfully defy the structured order of their society; often reflect anger and/or the despair that confronts their African-American communities. They may have a propensity for violence, but often that violence is in response to violence that has been inflicted upon them.
Term
Trickster
Definition
Character who uses cunning, guile, and wit to outsmart, overthrow or thwart an opponent
Term
Conjurer
Definition
figure who acts as an intermediary between the material and the spiritual world
Term
Hottentot Venus
Definition
Hypersexuality. Sara Baartman.
Term
Mammy
Definition
Desexualized, converse to Hottentot Venus; Nurturing; Motherly; Often positioned as overweight and thus unthreatening sexually because she is perceived as unattractive.
Term
Little Sally Walker
Definition
a young girl trying to impress a man
Term
Ego Trippin
Definition
Sort of a counterpoint to “Little Sally Walker” which is targeted toward younger females in order to instill at a young age the idea that women should never be considered inferior to men.
Term
Anti-Themes
Definition
Badman; Uncle Tom; happy darky/slave; Sambo
Term
Plantation Tradition
Definition
19th century literary style pinned mostly by White southerners attempting to reclaim the glory and images of the old South.
Term
Spirituals
Definition
oldest, perhaps most well known form of American folk song that we have
Term
Work songs / Songs of protest
Definition
deal specifically with our worldly existence
Term
Father of the Blues
Definition
W. C. Handy
Term
Fingering the Jagged Edge
Definition
o Literature transcendence
o Expresses both pain and joys of life through a sacred and secular expression
o Ritualistic – literature of purgation/cleansing/release and, ultimately, joy
Term
Miscegenatino
Definition
mixed races - critical tabo
Term
Miscegenation
Definition
mixed races - critical taboo
Term
Tragic Mulatto
Definition
(a) Usually a beautiful young woman
(b) Tragically victimized by slavery (sexually and physically)
(c) Character’s fate was predictable and melodramatic
(d) Always vulnerable
(e) Always end in suicide
Term
New Age Slavery
Definition
Sharecropping
Term
Earliest Known work of AA fiction
Definition
The Mulatto
Term
Harlem Renaissance
Definition
1922 - 1940
music and the arts, centered in an urban space (Harlem) attempting to express value and presence of a black aesthetic and of black arts.
Term
Realism/Modernism/Naturalism
Definition
1940 - 1960
Term
Realism
Definition
attempts to reflect life as it really is, not how we imagine it to or desire it to be
Term
Modernism
Definition
conscious break from tradition, particularly classical tradition, and the presentation of new forms
Term
Naturalism
Definition
a look at how the environment affects human beings or mankind. A look at the deterministic affects of the environment on humankind. (important of city on people)
Term
Black Arts Movement
Definition
1959 - 1970
speaks to black community itself and no other community

Anti-Semitism, misogyny, racism
Very strong afro-centric focus. Africa is origin of all the work.
Term
Quest Narrative elements
Definition
i) Receiving a call
ii) Embarking on a journey of self discovery
iii) Returning with the elixir, boon, tools that lead to individual or communal transformation
c) The heroes journey may begin with a false start:
Term
The cult of true white womanhood
Definition
White women are pure, chaste, in need of protection
Supporting users have an ad free experience!